The Athens Police Department may see changes in the future due to a state task force discussing state wide police policy initiatives.
The Athens Police Department may see state-enforced policy changes in the near future.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich appointed a task force to establish new policing standard for all Ohio law enforcement agencies. That task force is made up of 12 individuals from different areas of Ohio who will continue to discuss initiatives to include adding body cameras to everyday police work and improving community-police relations, among other topics.
“Ohio has never had expectations or standards for those law enforcement agencies,” John Born, co-chairman of the task force and director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said. “What we are doing, is establishing those standards.”
Among other topics, the use of body cameras came up in the last meeting in early January and will continue to be discussed in future meetings, Born said. Issues surrounding privacy, retention, public records and operational use are still being discussed within the task force.
Those kinks in the system are what keep Athens Police Chief, Tom Pyle, hesitant toward adding body cameras to APD’s arsenal of resources.
“A lot has to change before we would be interested,” Pyle said. “We simply don’t have the staff and we can’t afford it, quite honestly.”
With the funding and staff APD has now, Pyle said his department doesn’t have the ability to redact hundreds of hours of video for privacy reasons before it’s released as a public record.
Increased funding for police departments in situations similar to APD depends on what kind of standards are put into place concerning body cameras, Born said.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="5f755dc0-be35-11e5-9b82-27b75b741e16"}}
Those standards involve video retention time, what situations the camera is turned on in and public accessibility of the video, which will be discussed at the task force’s Jan. 26 meeting.
Ohio police departments currently using body cameras with public access policies include Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and The Ohio State University Police Department, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press's website. That accounts for only four out of about 1,000 police departments in Ohio. There is no legislation in Ohio concerning public access to body camera footage.
Improving community-police relations will continue to be discussed at that meeting as well.
Born said that initiative is vital “in some areas of the country that have experienced a significant of separation between law enforcement and the community where there isn't a trust developed between the two."
With Ohio being a diverse state, Born said the task force is looking at how to develop policies and standards that erase any line that exists between police departments and communities.
“We need to make sure we raise the bar with ways that other agencies have found successful with integrating in the community,” Born said.
Pyle said it takes a concerted effort to be civic minded and community minded.
“If you really want your department to be a community relation based community …. you have to be that way yourself,” Pyle said. “You have to set up policies and mission visions that promote those things within.”
Pyle added that it’s easy to tell if an agency is good by the way it provides community service. One of the events that Athens holds to promote that is the Joint Police Advisory Council’s annual BBQ. At the BBQ, community members can talk with police officers over a hot dog or cheeseburger.
Aside from APD, the Ohio University Police Department has also started its own local initiatives to establish a relationship with the community and police department, OUPD's Lt. Tim Ryan said in an email.
A few events set up by OUPD include “Coffee with a Cop” at the Front Room in Baker Center, Rape Aggression Defense classes and Halloween safety programs.
“Our hope is that all of our services and initiatives help to build trust with the community and strengthen our partnership,” Ryan said in an email.
@Fair3Julia
Jf311013@ohio.edu
