The state’s nearly 1,000 police and law enforcement agencies are required to have policies regarding police chases, but there’s nothing in state law that dictates what those look like.
As a former prosecutor, Gov. Mike DeWine said he understands weighing the concerns of a potentially dangerous suspect getting away against the risk to the public of a chase.
“I’m not advocating or saying there never should be a police chase," DeWine says. "That’s not what I’m saying at all. But what I am saying is these are life and death decisions, and it’s time Ohio had a statewide standard."
DeWine is asking the state’s Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board to develop some recommendations – and mentioned there were some in a report done in 2016 by a group he created as attorney general.
The board currently develops standards governing the use of deadly force, recruitment and hiring, and body cameras, among other issues.
While the recommendations wouldn’t be law, DeWine says agencies would likely adopt them.
The Department of Public Safety says at least 545 departments employing more than 28,000 officers have either met the existing standards or are working to meet them.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
