The first piece of bipartisan legislation to come out of Gov. John Kasich’s task force on police action and community relations is out. This first bill would require law enforcement agencies to come up with written policies on how fatal officer-involved shootings will be handled, and provides for outside officers to investigate those shootings.
Rep. Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) pointed to the recommendations of the task force created after the deaths of John Crawford of Dayton and Tamir Rice in Cleveland last year.
“The question becomes, when will we now take action on the recommendations? So almost one year later, we’re coming back today with just one of what needs to be many bills to put these recommendations to action,” Reece said.
The bill also requires the investigative report on a fatal shooting be released to the public if no charges are filed against officers by prosecutors.