Sykes, other Ohio lawmakers introduce bill to help with law enforcement hiring, retention

Several federal lawmakers from Ohio want to amend a grant program to help law enforcement agencies with hiring officers amid a national staffing shortage.

U.S. Rep. Emilia Strong Sykes, D-Akron, partnered with Reps. Greg Landsman, D-Cincinnati, Mike Carey, R-Columbus, and Max Miller, R-Rocky River, to introduce a bipartisan bill that would modify the U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS Hiring Program to allow law enforcement agencies to use grants for recruitment and retention bonuses, as well as make grant applications valid for five years instead of one.

The new bill is called the Enhancing COPS Hiring Program Grants for Local Law Enforcement Act. It has been endorsed by the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association.

"What we've heard constantly is that law enforcement agencies right now are having a hard time with keeping officers, recruiting officers for a myriad of reasons," said Strong Sykes, who represents Ohio's 13th Congressional District. "We're just trying to create a financial incentive for the burden to be eased on local law enforcement but also to encourage more people to be in these roles."

Police departments across the country have dealt with staffing problems in recent years, including those in Stark County. A number have said it takes a long time to fill open positions, and several have started recruiting directly from police academies to combat the issue.

Strong Sykes said she met with elected officials across Ohio's 13th District — which covers all of Summit, northwestern Stark and part of Portage — early in her term and heard about the challenges that law enforcement agencies have had with hiring. As officers across the country leave the field, it puts a greater strain on departments, she said.

"The existing and remaining officers are overworked, they're overburdened, they're tired, and they may not be performing at the top of their duties, which allows for there to be more negative interactions, which we're constantly trying to reduce so that people continue to have faith in law enforcement," Strong Sykes said.

She said law enforcement will continue to be part of the community and that the way to ensure departments have the best and brightest officers is to provide them the resources to take care of themselves and their families. She also said the bill would help with the goals of keeping communities safe and increasing trust between communities and law enforcement.

Stark County Sheriff George Maier said he hadn't read the bill, but any assistance that can be provided in this area will be helpful for law enforcement.

"Any help we can get in this arena for recruitment certainly is helpful to not only the Stark County Sheriff's Office, but to local enforcement general in Ohio," Maier said. "It used to be agencies would recruit once or twice a year. We are constantly recruiting now."

John Pollack, a Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association board member and sheriff in Branch County, Michigan, said it would be difficult for small agencies like his own to make use of the program because they do not have the resources to follow up with certain reporting requirements if they received a grant. But he said the bill could have a major impact on other agencies and help with their hiring efforts.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Emilia Strong Sykes, Max Miller introduce bill to expand COPS hiring