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Several years ago Ohio implemented a law that they were going to start mandating training for peace officers in the state of Ohio and while they didn’t immediately follow-through with implementing the training, slowly it has come to fruition. Originally the state told law enforcement the training would consist of 40 hours per year, but in 2012 they mandated only three hours. In 2013, the state required no additional training. In 2014 and 2015 they required four hours each. This year that number has jumped to 11 hours, and the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office will undergo eight hours of that training on Monday.

“Out of those 11 hours the state wants us to take a mandated specific 9 hours of training,” Scioto County Sheriff Marty V. Donini said. “And the other two hours each officer can take anything they want.”

One of the hours will deal with human trafficking, the other 9 hours is a unit titled “Policing in the 21st Century.” Inside the 8 hour block, there are several units including “Police-Community Relations,” “Constitutional Use of Force,” and “De-escalating of Persons in Crisis”.

“What this 8 hour block is mainly geared toward is what has been happening in the last year or two,” Donini said. “They want the officers to understand what it takes to interact with the community; what it is the community expects and procedural justice. That’s all they want to know that there has been a procedure followed. They want the officer to make an effort to resolve or solve the crime.”

The training will be done by webinar through the Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy in London, Ohio. While each officer could log onto OLEG (Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway), what the officers will be doing Monday is logging onto a single computer and letting every participant sit through that training on a single big screen.

“We’re going to have 28 people attend and get 8 of these hours on Monday,” Donini said. “Those officers will have to turn around and pick up that other hour on updated training on human trafficking. Then they will have to come up with two other hours and they can choose anything they want.”

The training will run from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break. But since only about a third of the department’s officers can be trained Monday, two more webinars will be scheduled, one in April and one in May, so that all regular deputies and special deputies can receive the mandated training.

Donini said he and Chief Deputy Todd Miller have already taken the course.

The training mandate goes to 20 hours in 2017 and 40 hours in 2018.

Donini said the state, while not paying for the entire training, will reimburse the county for $20 per hour for each officer trained.

By Frank Lewis

[email protected]

Reach Frank Lewis at 740-353-3101, ext. 1928, or on Twitter @franklewis.

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