The Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission held its final regularly scheduled meeting of the year on Tuesday in London, its last under Attorney General Andy Wilson, and warned that 445 law enforcement agencies have yet to report this year’s required training for 6,905 officers, the Scioto Valley Guardian reported.
Every peace officer and trooper in Ohio must complete 24 hours of continuing professional training in 2026, with agencies required to log the hours with the state by Dec. 31, according to the Guardian’s reporting. Eight of the hours cover topics the commission requires, including legal updates, communications, firearms and two hours of subject control; agencies choose the other 16.
An officer whose hours are not filed goes into what the state calls cease function status on Jan. 1 and must stop carrying a firearm and stop performing the duties of a peace officer until proof of compliance is filed and verified, the Guardian reported. Agencies that need more time for an officer must request an extension by Dec. 15, a final notice goes out Dec. 2, and staff said they have approved 1,899 course applications so far, according to the Guardian.
The commission, which sets minimum training standards for Ohio’s roughly 33,000 peace officers and directs the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy in London, voted without opposition to keep Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth as its chair for 2027, the Guardian reported. Stanforth has chaired the commission since 2005. Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Charles Jones was kept on as vice chair. “Congratulations, sheriff,” Jones said, according to the Guardian.
Wilson, who was appointed in June to finish the term of former Attorney General Dave Yost and leaves office Jan. 11, used the meeting to argue that the paperwork deadline is the smaller problem, the Guardian reported. Ohio requires officers to requalify with a firearm every year but sets no continuing standard for hands-on subject control, he said. “As a profession, we are failing the men and women that we are asking to go out and put themselves in harm’s way,” Wilson told the commission, according to the Guardian. “Ultimately, we’re failing the citizens that we protect.”
Academy director Robert Graziano, who helped draft Wilson’s proposal, said the plan is a proficiency standard, not a pass-or-fail qualification that would pull an officer off the street, and an officer who falls short would get a grace period to improve while still working, the Guardian reported. The commission also voted Tuesday to expand mandatory crisis intervention training from one hour to six, and the academy launched a new online course catalog and training application for 2027, according to the Guardian.
What happens next: the Dec. 31 reporting deadline decides whether the 6,905 officers still unaccounted for keep their authority to carry a firearm and do police work on Jan. 1. The commission does not meet again until Feb. 9; its 2027 meetings are set for Feb. 9, May 11, Aug. 10 and Nov. 9, the Guardian reported.