(The Center Square) – Ohio communities should find it easier to file the thousands of open police officer positions after Gov. Mike DeWine signed a new law.
The law, which takes effect in three months, allows local police departments to fill vacant civil service positions without “unnecessary” exams and speed up training for new cadets.
“House Bill 44 will expedite the process to get well-trained officers in the field, ultimately increasing the safety of our communities and directly addressing workforce needs,” Rep. Kevin Miller, R-Newark, said in a statement.
For several years, police departments across the state have reported trouble recruiting and filling positions because of the growing number of retirements and resignations, lower recruitment levels and struggles with retention.
The state’s top urban areas – Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati – have each reported thousands of open positions, but smaller, rural communities face the same issues, with overall staffing levels below 2020 levels.
Candidates would have to show exceptional qualifications to fill an open position without taking the exams eliminated by the new law, which unanimously passed the Senate and cleared the House of Representatives 91-1.
“After four General Assemblies and countless hours spent with proponents and interested parties, we have a good bill for the governor to sign,” Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, said in a statement. “It is imperative that our police departments have the staffing needed to provide for the public’s safety, and this bill ensures that the redundancies currently faced when an officer transfers departments are eliminated.”
The new law also allows police chiefs to establish training schools for prospective law enforcement officers and allows the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission to establish more locations for police chief training courses.
Currently, chiefs and potential police officers have to travel to Columbus for training.
“Currently, law enforcement recruitment in the U.S. and in Ohio specifically has become increasingly difficult, resulting in many vacancies in agencies large and small,” Heinz von Eckartsberg, with the Ohio Association of Police Chiefs, said during recent testimony. “Just this past summer, the International Association of Chiefs of Police conducted a nationwide survey of police executives on this very issue. The results of the survey indicate that police agencies nationwide are operating on average at a nearly 10% deficit. In addition, about 65% of respondents to the survey indicated that they have had to ‘reduce services or specialized units because of staffing challenges.”
