COLUMBUS, Ohio — For 100-plus years, the NAACP has worked to create change while providing a voice to many​. And now is no different. With all of the protests going on, they expect to submit recommendations to legislators and other state leaders soon, that they hope will put an end to some of the problems with policing.

The Ohio conference begins their work now by looking at policing in cities across Ohio in three specific areas, which include the role of cities, data collection and other recommendations that came forth when Governor Kasich was in office. 

Tom Roberts, president of the Ohio Conference of the NAACP, said states have missed it when it comes to the role of cities, county commissions and city councils and their involvement with police and policing.

“At the local level they commission the police, they set policy for the police. Cities say they accept the guidelines. They say they're abiding by them. But part of what I want to do is for us to have those cities, city commission, the city council, take a look and see what, in fact, their police force are doing as relates to these guidelines.”

The former legislator served on Governor John Kasich’s Ohio Task Force on Community Police Relations and helped to develop a 600-plus page report back in 2015 on police relations. He said while they had great hearings across the state, some of the recommendations were not fully implemented— like data collection of police interactions — something else they want NAACP leaders to revisit.

“Part of the reason why we think that's important, you don’t know there’s a problem if you don't collect the data to show you the problem, a systemic pattern,” said Roberts.

Roberts said the idea is to see what’s really happening, good or bad, and then move to make systemic changes.

The Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services noted that there has been some work, but not a full adoption of the data collection recommendation across the state. They also acknowledged more work needs to be done not only in that area, but other areas from the report.
 
Roberts is also looking for the Ohio NAACP to focus on citizen review boards with power— a common idea being widely shared now even recently by leaders in the City of Columbus.

“It’s almost like a grand jury, you know, to hear the facts, subpoena the people to come in, have them testify. And then the system review review board would make a recommendation, you know, to the prosecutor," Roberts said.

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein says the Fraternal Order of Police contract currently has limitations on citizen review boards, but they want to see what can be done now while waiting on the next round of negotiations to come up.

For now, local Columbus NAACP members like Elder Larry Price, of the Columbus chapter of NAACP, have noted, “for the first time in the 30-40 years , that we've been talking about a citizen review board, for the first time city government has said maybe it's not a bad idea.”

All of this right now boils down to transparency, trust and inviting many who have been excluded to the table to work things out. 

State NAACP leaders and city leaders in Columbus both agree that it’s the only way Ohio can move ahead.

Roberts said the NAACP will have their first meeting on Thursday. They’ll be reviewing recommendations from Governor Kasich’s Ohio Task Force of Community Police Relations and adding their own as well. They hope to provide recommendations within the next two to three weeks.