Ohio leaders on Dallas deaths: 'Our hearts are heavy'

Ohio’s elected leaders are mourning the deaths of five police officers in Dallas in a sniper attack during a protest over the slayings of black men by white officers in Minnesota and Louisiana.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich wrote on Twitter this morning: “Our hearts are heavy for the police officers lost in last night's violence in Dallas, for their families and their fellow officers.

“Our communities can only be strong when we have mutual respect between police and those they serve.”

Following the lead of President Barack Obama, Kasich ordered flags flown at half-staff through sunset on Tuesday in honor of the fallen officers.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said in a statement: "The scene in Dallas last night was both heartbreaking and chilling. Police officers risk their lives every day to ensure that others can live, and even peacefully protest, in safety. To watch police officers be shot for doing their job, for protecting innocent people, is horrifying.”

Kasich appointed a panel early last year to upgrade policing and foster improved trust between police officers and the communities they serve with the appointment of a panel that since has worked to improve police transparency and accountability and is staging a social-media based public-education campaign.

The Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board, a diverse group of police officials and black and community leaders, created the first set of statewide standards on police use of deadly force and diversity-based officer recruitment and hiring.

The standard on deadly force states that officers must use it only to protect themselves and others from serious injury or death. Police agencies have until March 2017 to demonstrate that they have adopted the standards.

Most of Ohio's approximately 1,000 police agencies, particularly bigger cities such as Columbus, already have standards exceeding the new minimum state standards. Forty law enforcement agencies now are fully or provisionally certified and another 151 have applied for certification, state officials said.

The panel also is studying ways to upgrade police dispatching and studying policies to accompany the use of police body cameras.

Unlike in some other states in which white officers fatally shot blacks, Ohio and the Cleveland area did not descend into violence after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot to death in a city park in late 2014 while holding an empty pellet gun and when a grand jury declined to indict the officers involved.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Jefferson Township, plans to join other members of the Congressional Black Caucus for a July 14 march to protest gun violence in an event planned prior to the Dallas slayings. A spokesman said the logistics of the event are still being organized. A bus is expected to carry Columbus-area residents to Washington D.C. to join in the event.

"The senseless deaths of two innocent young black men at the hands of police and the equally senseless killing of five Dallas police officers last night were all completely avoidable and intolerable. Words alone cannot describe my heartbreak, however, words cannot describe my resolve. We need real solutions now to stop the bloodshed," Beatty said in a statement.

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump canceled scheduled political appearances, and the Ohio Republican Party called off an event set up to bash former Gov. Ted Strickland, who is challenging Portman for the Senate slot.

In Cleveland, where the Republican National Convention will begin July 18 amid a large police presence, Mayor Frank G. Jackson and Police Chief Calvin D. Williams said in a joint statement: “Our sympathy and condolences go out to the family and friends of those who were killed and injured in Dallas last night. No words can express the sorrow and pain the people of Dallas are experiencing. The City of Cleveland supports the City of Dallas as they grieve and seek to understand this act of violence.”

Comment was being sought from Cleveland officials on whether the violence in Dallas could alter security plans for the GOP convention.

Cleveland.com reported that city police were halting the use of one-man patrol cars in reaction to the slayings of the Dallas officers.

This article first appeared on the Columbus Dispatch's website on July 8, 2016.