COLUMBUS – Anyone who wants to become a police officer in Ohio would have to undergo a pre-screening process that could include a lie-detector test and psychological exam if the latest recommendations for improving police training are adopted.
A task force created by Attorney General Mike DeWine in response to fatal police shootings and protests in Ohio and nationally recommended that all applicants to police training programs in Ohio undergo a psychological exam “to confirm that applicants have the right psychological makeup to serve as a peace officer,” as well as drug screening and a “truth verification test,” such as a voice stress analysis or polygraph.
Police department in Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland have already adopted those standards, DeWine said.
The panel in April recommended that Ohio boost the minimum number of required training hours for officers and use stricter screening for applicants to police officer training programs.
The only existing requirements are that applicants must be over the age of 18, have a medical provider sign off that they are physically able to attend an academy and not have committed a felony or offense that prevents them from being allowed to legally carry a firearm.
Earlier recommendations led to an increase in the minimum number of training hours for new officers and requirements that candidates for law enforcement jobs have a high school diploma.
The new recommendation come a day after U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a federal civil rights investigation into suspected patterns of unconstitutional policing practices throughout the Chicago police force.
It has been nearly two weeks since the city released the explosive video of a white Chicago police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times, killing him. Furor over the video led to the resignations of some top police officials.