On Police Reform in Ohio
Opening Statement
On Wednesday, June 17, 2020 the Governor announced that his office along with the Attorney General were launching “Meaningful Law Enforcement Reform” actions and proposed legislative reforms to improve law enforcement training, transparency and accountability in Ohio. The reforms of course were launched after the horrific murder of George Floyd galvanized the country in protest against police brutality. Although the need for reform and change was long overdue, it was curious why it took the murder of another unarmed victim to invoke such an expedient response. Ohio particularly Columbus ranks high in this country in the number of police officer involved shootings and killings. The numbers are astonishing at 900+ since 2000 and yet the steps to make change have only just been deemed necessary. John Kasich as Governor of Ohio created a task force to address changes to law enforcement but again only after his police departments were being investigated by the Department of Justice for a multitude of Civil Rights Violations. We at Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality applaud your efforts, we are also quite shocked and dismayed that your office decided to create these much-needed police department reforms without once consulting the Ohio families of the victims of police involved shootings and killings. We believe that who better than the families of victims of police brutality, killings and shootings could provide a comprehensive understanding of what reforms would increase more effective policing for the officers. The collective experiences of these mostly mothers could provide their expertise on how to avoid further unnecessary grief for those interacting with a police officer by sharing their stories, knowledge and insight. Even informing those without first-hand experience of what each family member has to endure while waiting for updates of their loved one’s case could help officers, staff and those in charge with handling these cases far more humanely. The necessity of police reform has often only come after the excessive amount of police involved shootings and killings has come under national scrutiny; these families right in your own backyard have lived through the nightmare of losing their loved ones. It’s impossible to reform a department without first hearing from the victims through their loved ones, so that when you are proposing reforms you are speaking for them. You’re speaking from a perspective not of the victim but from data and expert testimony and in our opinion, it takes the voices of the people who have lived these experiences to bring true reform and change. These families should have been consulted and before these proposed reforms are finalized these family’s voices should be heard and before you move forward, they should be invited to the table the next time you are negotiating any more changes. Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality looks forward to sharing their knowledge, stories and expertise. We believe that together we can make real change.
Mothers’ Statements
Sabrina Jordan
My name is Sabrina Jordan, and I am the mother of Jamarco Mcshann who was killed by Moraine Ohio police department 10/20/2017 while asleep in his car parked in front of his apartment. Mothers from all over Ohio are devastated by the loss of their sons and daughters by the hands of police. I began Ohio Families United Against Police Brutality in 2018, and before the George Floyd public death by the police, we have been working together for better change with police reform. I know for a fact that as families that have been impacted by police killings, we are more knowledgeable about what needs to be changed and added to police reform.
Adrienne Hood
My name is Adrienne Hood and I am writing this letter on behalf of my son, Henry Green V and our family. My son was killed June 6, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio by two plainclothes police officers from Columbus police. It has been a grueling four and half years of continuing to seek justice and accountability with little in sight. There have been many policies that the families (the true experts) have been asking for years to have and have had little to no progress. Over the years there has been so many policies introduced and changed for the betterment of a group of people while oftentimes never consulting with those who are directly affected. This can no longer be! We are the families who have been affected by police violence, we know where and how errors were made in each of our cases so why we are not at the table when the conversations are taking place about policy is beyond me. We are tired of having to come to elected officials after the fact when we should be in the room having these conversations before any legislation is introduced. The bottom line is this, we should be and should have been at the table having conversation way before any bill had been introduced. It is not too late to make that happen and it starts with someone contacting us. There is no more time for games and party line antics there are literally lives depending on this being done right. Thank you for your time and I certainly look forward to working with everyone involved!
Dionne Burney
My name is Dionne Burney, mother of Ke’sharn Burney killed by Montgomery County Sheriff Deputy Matthew Bowling. Sheriff Phil Plummer was the Sheriff during his death. He callously stated on TV my son was killed in a drug blitz and only a small quantity of drugs was discovered and his deputies tried to talk to him and he wasn’t willing to talk. The video that he and the prosecutor held onto for 2 years shows my son parked in a vehicle awaiting to head into outbound traffic when your officers shot him and resulted in his death labeled homicide. His civil rights were violated. He was denied medical treatment and your officers let him bleed out. Sheriff Phil Plummer serves as a conflict of interest and a road barrier because when he was in office, he had 2 police killings of African American males and he did nothing to make things better.
Tania Hudson
My name is Tania Hudson. My son Daunte Bell was targeted because of the color of his skin not to mention all of his civil rights that were violated during his encounter with Columbus Police Department. Considering that the evidence did not add up with the incident report we are asking that his case be read and reviewed by other resources such as clergy board members, independent review board, myself and other mothers who have experienced this same injustice.
Alicia Kirkman
My name is Alicia Kirkman, Mother of Angelo Easy Miller killed by Cleveland Ohio Police Department 03 / 23 / 2007 why he was driving in his car. I'm writing this letter on behalf of my loving son Angelo Easy Miller who was only 17 teen years of age at the time. The whole world heard my son Angelo on the 911 tape that was released saying my hands are up sir I’m not doing nothing was Angelo last words pleading for his life and then you heard gunshots the phone went dead my son was pronounced dead what a story. No Accountability! I have been working so hard for 13 years for change with other families that have experienced the same nightmare as me and my family has experienced. I have been working on accountability and reform for 13 years and nothing is changing. It's a law set up in the City of Cleveland they are not supposed to shoot into a moving vehicle it's been 13 years they are still shooting into moving vehicles. I can go on and on with all our rights that's being Violated for Centuries we need change and we need the whole system to be reformed.
Anternitia O’Neal
Hello my name is Anternitia O'Neal my son’s name was Dontez O' Neal he was murdered November 21, 2012 in Cincinnati Ohio by African American police officer Orlando Smith. My son was shot 14 times. The officer stated my son tried to shoot at him and then admitted he heard voices in his head telling him my son would have shot at him. This police officer has a long extensive history of using excessive force on African-Americans. There were several witnesses that saw the shooting and each of those witnesses stated my son never got out of the car, he killed my son while he was sitting in his car and shot the other boy in the wrist that was with my son. There were 2 Caucasian police officers with him that never fired their firearm. They tampered with the video dash camera which we have sent out for the video cam but no one responded to our request. Unfortunately, none of the African-American leaders in Cincinnati has extended their hand out to support me. I have emailed Al Sharpton along with other leaders no response. I’m so heartbroken and saddened by how my son’s death appears not as important as the others by citizens across the country due to no one nationally knowing about my son. His death is secretly kept locally in the city of Cincinnati and covered up by the Cincinnati police department with false allegations about my son that's been sold to the media while portraying my son as if he shot at the police but the police and CPD and witnesses know the true story. I pray someone will contact me and allow me to share my son’s story. There are African-American police killing African-Americans as well but no one hears about these kinds of cases unless it's a Caucasian cop. I wish I could have gone to Washington DC with everyone to share my son’s story against police brutality. I hope to hear from you soon thank you in advance.
Expert Consultant Statements - OFUAPB Board Members
Cheryl Wood-Smith
In developing police reform, it is imperative that those who are directly involved in the pain and trauma of police murders have a dominant voice in determining what reforms need to take place. Hundreds of families in Ohio are currently struggling to continue to seek justice for their loved ones as well as deal with the loss, the pain, the shock and the anger that they have been left to handle on their own.
The make- up of these panels, tasks forces and reform initiatives must be predicated on the reality that no reform will effectively address the problems of police brutality and murder in the African American community until the families are included as the true experts who have the power to formulate true solutions.
Ri Molnar
None of the legislative actions recommended by the governor’s office should increase funding for the police or any law enforcement agency, but rather reallocate funding that already exists toward transformative changes that enhance the well-being of all Ohioans. Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality will not endorse nor rally support for any legislation that increases the budget for law enforcement. Instead, we suggest that similarly to how schools lose funding based on low performance, the Ohio legislature should similarly punish police and sheriff’s departments as well as prisons with high rates of excessive force and police-involved killings of community members with reduced funding.
We support the governor’s office working with Democrats, and Representative Crawley in particular, on police legislation as policing impacts all Ohioans, not just Republican Ohioans. Representative Crawley has shown the kind of leadership we appreciate in our legislators by making time to listen to our concerns as Ohioans and taking action based on what she heard from us in legislative matters.
Board Secretary
The experts, that we are aware of, who contributed to H.B. 703 include former Montgomery County Sheriff and current House Representative Phil Plummer, former police officer and current House Representative Cindy Abrams, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Buckeye State Sheriff's Office, Ohio Chief Police Association, Black Caucus, and a chapter of the NAACP. This pool of “experts” is heavily biased in the favor of individuals who are currently or formerly involved in law enforcement who stand to benefit from maintaining the status quo in policing. The irony of including so many experts with ties to law enforcement to contribute to a police reform bill is that police training is rife with pseudoscience, unsubstantiated claims, and anecdotal evidence that has not been replicated in scientific studies (McLaughlin, 2020). If your intention is to change how police approach citizens, the input of communities that are subjected to the most frequent and invasive policing patterns must be taken seriously and lawmakers must implement their suggestions into new policy at the front end of the process (Miller, 2015, p. 548). In this case, your task force needs to bring the families of victims of police brutality to the table.
One of the so-called experts being consulted for H.B. 703 is House Representative Phil Plummer who served as the former Sheriff of Montgomery County from July 7, 2008 to December 31, 2018. Prior to entering the Ohio House of Representatives, Phil Plummer was named in at least ten lawsuits calling for $10 million in damages (Lyon, 2019). The lawsuits alleged multiple instances of excessive use of force, civil rights violations, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, wrongful death, denial of proper medical attention, and a neglected grievance system. A Justice Advisory Committee was assembled to investigate the Montgomery County Jail and found that the shortcomings of the facility and operations led to devastating consequences for the people in Representative Plummer’s care. The JAC found that the Montgomery County jail regularly housed over 900 people at a time when the building was only designed to hold a maximum of 443 (JAC, 2019, p. 19). The Montgomery County Jail averaged 30 incidents of self-harm among people in custody per month (2019, p. 21). While Phil Plummer touted Montgomery County Jail’s multiple accreditations during his tenure as sheriff, the conditions of the jail described in the JAC’s Report, multiple class action lawsuits, and poor mental and medical health outcomes of imprisoned individuals indicate poor management of the facility and staff. Representative Plummer’s resume seems to indicate an expertise in policing, but his performance has caused the very harm that Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality seeks to eliminate. He is an expert in perpetuating harm to our community. Families of victims of police brutality are experts in healing our community.
Karla White
To whom this may concern, I am submitting this letter strongly requesting that the Mother's/Families of the victims be invited to the table as the reform bill is assembled. It is imperative that their voices are included in this process. There is no way to effectively construct this bill without their input. I thank you for your time and consideration as you move forward with this necessary process.
Police Reform Proposal Addition:
Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality is proposing the addition of a Victim Advocacy Group. We contend that families who are dealing with the devastating loss of a loved one needs to know that what they are experiencing matters. The police department, BCI and other members of the criminal justice system needs to address that in the past the rights and consideration of the families have been ignored, dismissed and treated with indifference. OFUAPB proposes that an effective Victim Advocacy Group funded by the enormous police budget is implemented expeditiously. We propose that this advocacy consists of the following people:
Clergy
Legal Aide/Lawyer
Mothers/Family Members of victims of police brutality
Advocacy duties include the following:
Liaison between police department, BCI and family to keep families updated on investigation
Formal notification to family member of the deceased by the advocacy group
Legal assessment of case providing legal assistance when necessary
Support system and resources available to the families including grief counseling, burial information, victim resources, etc.
Post investigation, advocate group will continue providing resources to family members until determined unnecessary
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. We look forward to meeting with each of you in the near future.
Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality, Sabrina Jordan-Founder
Unified Support:
Audrey Dubose - Mother of Sam Dubose shot and killed July 19, 2015 by University of Cincinnati Police Officer
Mrs. King - Grandmother of Tyre King shot and killed September 14, 2016 by a Columbus Police Officer
Patricia Martin - Mother of Dontae’ Martin shot and killed July 23, 2015 by a Dayton Police Officer
Bishop Jerome McCorry - Founder - The National Congress on Faith and Social Justice
Yolanda Simpson - Black Lives Matter Miami Valley