7/25/2019 2222k

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2222k 1/6

On the night he died, Douglas Ostling dialed 911 — but he wasn’t in distress, according

to his parents. Bill and Joyce Ostling said they cautioned the police officers who showed

up at their Bainbridge Island, ashington, ho!e that their "#$year$old son, who li%ed in

an apart!ent abo%e the garage, was !entally ill. But when Douglas ca!e to theapart!ent door carrying the a& he used to cut 'indling for his wood$burning sto%e, the

situation escalated.

(he Ostlings and the police pro%ide different accounts of what happened ne&t. hat is

certain is that one of the officers shot Douglas. O%er the ne&t hour and 1) !inutes, he

bled to death on the floor of the apart!ent while the police surrounding the garage

treated hi! as a barricaded suspect.

 *fter their son’s death in October +1, the Ostlings ad%ocated for better crisis training

for ashington state police officers. -ast !onth, De!ocratic o%. Jay Inslee signed

the Douglas /. Ostling *ct, which !andates that all officers in the state recei%e an initial

eight hours of crisis inter%ention training and participate in a two$hour re%iew course

each year. (he bill also includes a !echanis! to pay for +0 percent of the patrol officers

statewide to participate in a "$hour training progra!.

(here are a lot of things bro'en, and we helped fi& one,2 Bill Ostling said. It’s not a

total fi&, but at least it starts getting so!e attention, which is needed.2

3purred by police shootings in /issouri, 3outh 4arolina, Ohio and /aryland, law!a'ers

in !any states ha%e debated policing refor! !easures this legislati%e session. *!ong

the!5 !easures re6uiring local police to pro%ide !ore e&tensi%e training, e6uip officers

with body ca!eras and collect better data on the use of force. But !any of the

proposals ha%e stalled because of a lac' of !oney and resistance fro! local police

agencies.

Financial Realities

 *bout half of the police agencies in the 7.3. e!ployed fewer than 1 officers in +1#,

according to the Bureau of Justice 3tatistics. 8or such s!all depart!ents, the cost of

7/25/2019 2222k

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2222k 2/6

training— including paying officers to fill in for those recei%ing additional training in the

classroo! — is a !aor barrier.

In Ohio, where an attorney general’s ad%isory group recently reco!!ended increasing

continuing training re6uire!ents for officers fro! +" to " hours, 8raternal Order of

:olice :resident Jay /cDonald said police agencies support training !easures, but the

proposed re6uire!ents would cost an additional ;# !illion annually.

e ust want to !a'e sure that the reco!!endations of the tas' force and the

i!ple!entation of any reco!!endation doesn’t eopardi<e their safety and doesn’t

 eopardi<e e!ployers’ ability to fund police operations,2 /cDonald said.

3i!ilar concerns played out in 4olorado, where =epublican state 3en. John 4oo'e, a

for!er county sheriff, oined with De!ocrats to pass initiati%es including a grant

progra! to help local agencies pay for body ca!eras, a !o%e to bring outside o%ersight

to in%estigations of police depart!ents and a re6uire!ent that officers recei%e additional

situational de$escalation, co!!unity policing and anti$bias training.

4oo'e called other bills, such as a failed atte!pt to ban the use of cho'ehold

techni6ues, pretty e&tre!e.2

I’! not saying that for e%ery !inor arrest a cho'ehold is used,2 4oo'e e&plained. But

when you’re in a 'noc'down, drag$out fight, you’%e got to do what you’%e got to do.2

4oo'e said !any of the ideas proposed by Den%er$area law!a'ers don’t translate well

in s!aller, rural urisdictions.

>ou ha%e different co!!unity needs and different agency si<e,2 4oo'e said. >ou can’t

write a law that co%ers e%erything. /andatory training — a lot of these s!all agencies

don’t ha%e the funds or the !oney to do the training they want to get done.2

7/25/2019 2222k

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2222k 3/6

Jennifer 3haw, deputy director of the *4-7 in ashington state, where the Ostling bill

will ta'e effect in late July, said training is typically left to local urisdictions, but policies

go%erning police action should be standard across the state.

/oney could be one reason agencies resist training !andates, she said, but it is !ore

li'ely that localities want control o%er their police depart!ents.

(hey don’t see! to ha%e a proble! ta'ing !oney when it’s offered,2 3haw said. But

when it co!es to laying down certain re6uire!ents of how policy is written, how training

is underta'en, that’s where the local urisdictions get upset.2

3he said it’s i!portant to ha%e statewide policies, since officers fro! different agencies

often wor' together.

Before +10, only four states had body ca!era laws on the boo's. By /ay, #" states

were at least considering legislation related to the de%ices.

:ro!oted as a way to hold police accountable, the ca!eras ha%e raised 6uestions

about procedure, public records access and the e&pense of storing, re%iewing and

releasing footage.

In a +1" sur%ey by the :olice ?&ecuti%e =esearch 8oru!, nearly " percent of police

agencies without body ca!eras reported cost was the pri!ary barrier to using the

de%ices.

Tracking Use of Force

hile ca!eras and training are getting a lot of attention fro! law!a'ers, so!e policing

e&perts say the country’s ne&t wa%e of refor!s lies in accurately trac'ing how and whenofficers use lethal force.

(wo states, @orth 4arolina and Oregon, already re6uire data collection for incidents

in%ol%ing deadly force, according to the @ational 4onference of 3tate -egislatures

A@43-. -egislators in se%en states A4alifornia, 4olorado, 4onnecticut, /aryland,

7/25/2019 2222k

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2222k 4/6

/assachusetts, @orth 4arolina and Cirginia ha%e introduced legislation this year to

address or e&pand data collection.

(here is no federal standard for collecting and co!paring data about police use of force,

though the 8BI does !aintain a database of officers who are assaulted or 'illed.

If we had a national database with data by city, we could then say these police

depart!ents are doing !uch better than these others,2 said 3a!uel al'er, a policing

e&pert and professor e!eritus at the 7ni%ersity of @ebras'a at O!aha. e could then

do research about co!!unities — policies, !anage!ent, personnel practices that

contribute to lower rates of shooting.2

In /aryland, law!a'ers were already considering a nu!ber of refor!s before public

outcry o%er the death of 8reddie ray, a Balti!ore !an who died in police custody,

reached a fe%er pitch.

Del. *lon<o ashington, a De!ocrat fro! :rince eorge’s 4ounty outside ashington,

D.4., spearheaded a new law that re6uires law enforce!ent agencies to report all

officer$in%ol%ed deaths to the /aryland o%ernor’s Office of 4ri!e 4ontrol and

:re%ention.

e need !ore transparency and accountability,2 ashington said. :eople died at the

hands of police officers, why shouldn’t we 'now that2

/aryland =epublican o%. -arry Eogan recently signed that !easure, along with a bill

creating a co!!ission to establish guidelines for police$worn ca!eras and a !easure

to establish beha%ioral health units at police agencies in the Balti!ore area.

In 4olorado, a si!ilar law will re6uire e%ery officer in%ol%ed shooting be reported to the

state Di%ision of 4ri!inal Justice. 4oo'e also sponsored that legislation.

Many Bills, Few Laws

7/25/2019 2222k

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2222k 5/6

(he 7.3. Justice Depart!ent has opened nearly two do<en in%estigations of police

depart!ents during the past si& years after allegations of brutality or in the wa'e of

police shootings. It has reco!!ended refor!s in cities such as 3eattle, @ewar', @ew

Jersey, and 8erguson, /issouri, or entered into settle!ents to change policing policies,as it did last wee'in 4le%eland.

 *lthough the police shooting of /ichael Brown in 8erguson last *ugust launched a

national dialogue on police tactics and spar'ed plenty of discussion in state capitols,

that hasn’t translated into !any new state laws—at least not yet.

In /issouri, for instance, law!a'ers proposed !ore than 0 refor!s during the

legislati%e session. But only one — a !easure to li!it the re%enue local urisdictions canraise through traffic tic'ets — beca!e law.

 *dditionally, /issouri and 19 other states proposed nearly 0 bills regarding racial bias

training for officers, according to @43-. @one passed e&cept the one in 4olorado, the

group said.

3arah =ossi, director of ad%ocacy and policy for the /issouri *4-7, said legislati%e

leaders in /issouri lac'ed the appetite to pursue real change. I thin' the !osti!portant point was there were so !any bills that could ha%e addressed police refor!

and so !any of the! were ignored or gi%en a cursory glance and then ignored,2 =ossi

said.

hen the /issouri -egislature began its session in January, then$Eouse 3pea'er John

Diehl, a =epublican, told reporters the Eouse would not ha%e a 8erguson agenda,2 and

law!a'ers would not be eager ust to throw !oney at a proble!.2

In Ohio, /cDonald of the 8raternal Order of :olice said the issue co!es down to

!oney. (here are o%er 9 police agencies in the state of Ohio, so what !ight be

needed in 4le%eland or 4incinnati !ight not be needed Fin a rural area.G2

7/25/2019 2222k

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2222k 6/6

But /i'e Bric'ner, senior policy director for the *4-7 of Ohio, said financing is only a

part of the resistance to change.

It’s 'ind of li'e swi!!ing in a sea of Jell$O,2 he said. It’s %ery hard to !a'e progress,

it’s %ery slow going, it’s %ery arduous. @one of these will be o%ernight solutions.2