COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Governor Mike DeWine made an appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday morning to discuss police reform efforts in the state.
The eyes of the country have been on Ohio in the last week after 16-year-old girl Ma'Khia Bryan was shot and killed by a Columbus police officer sparking multiple protests in the city.
That incident took place on the same day a jury found Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the death of George Floyd.
Gov. DeWine says the legislation he is supporting offers a clear bipartisan pathway to police reform.
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The legislation calls for a state licensing board for police officers in Ohio in the same way other professions such as doctors, nurses, and teachers have state licensing boards.
In addition, the legislation would require the independent investigation of officer-involved critical incidents.
DeWine says it's important that outside agencies are involved to mitigate the appearance of bias by police departments or prosecutors.
“So, getting rid of that feeling, getting rid of that appearance, making sure that it’s an outside agency that’s doing the investigation," he said.
The Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is currently investigating the Ma'Khia Bryan case.
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The governor also called for more uniform training of Ohio’s police officers in areas of de-escalation and implicit bias.
DeWine says training is the best way to deal with discrepancies between real or perceived discrepancies between police officers' use of force on black and white suspects.
“This is state-of-the-art training today. This is what professionals want and I’ve never met a police officer yet who didn’t want more training.”
DeWine also said body cameras are important tools.
DeWine says his administration has not had a discussion about qualified immunity and he holds no opinion at this time about it.
