Coshocton Sheriff’s Office honored for adopting policing policies

COSHOCTON – The Coshocton County Sheriff’s Office was recently recognized for adopting standards from the Ohio Collaborative Community Police Advisory Board of the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services.

Sherriff Jim Crawford and members of his staff received several certificates. Presenting the honors were Tom Vaughn, director of special projects with the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and Coordinator for the Ohio Collaborative, and David Arbogast, peer/assessor for the Ohio Collaborative.

Awards were received for five groups of certifications. Group one is use of force, recruitment and hiring. Group two is community engagement, body worn cameras and telecommunicator training. Group three is bias free policing and investigation of employee misconduct. Group four is vehicular pursuit. Group five is response to mass protests and demonstrations and agency wellness standards.

Vaughn said the local sheriff’s office is one of only seven in the state currently certified in all five groups. The fifth group was recently added and isn’t due until next April for agencies to adopt.

“As opposed to passing a policy and putting it on a bookshelf, then when one of your staff gets in trouble, pulling it out and saying, ‘yup, he broke the rules;’ now it brings your policies to light. You’re being tested and there are annual acknowledgements. It does do a lot for liability moving forward,” Vaughn said.

There are more than 570 certified law enforcement agencies in Ohio currently with more in process of meeting standards. Nearly 30,000 officers, representing more than 86% of all law enforcement in the state, are employed by a certified agency or one in some part of the process.

“It adds transparency, it adds clout to your police department as an accredited agency,” Arbogast said. “We would like to see everyone, the rest of the sheriff’s departments in the State of Ohio become certified.”

When Crawford became sheriff in 2021, meeting standards and becoming certified by the collaborative was one of his top priorities. In March 2021, the sheriff ’s office implemented a new software program that helped them to meet standards. Arbogast went through all policies and standards in early April and determined the sheriff ’s office to be fully compliant.

Crawford said the software allowed the office to review and edit the 186 policies. Jail Administrator Charles “Chip” Udischas was in charge of editing policies. Crawford would then review and issue them to all employees. The software also included the ability to put out training bulletins.

“I’ve done a lot of agencies in this state, probably 75 to 80 overall, and it was a joy to work with them,” Arborgast said of the Coshocton County Sheriff’s Office. “(Crawford) took the right approach. He took his command staff and put it together, his presentation and documentation were fantastic.”

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.