Kucinich wants gun control, policing changes
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dennis Kucinich would restrict gun ownership, “demilitarize” police and require local governments to provide dash and body cams to officers or lose state funding.
Those proposals were part of a wide-ranging criminal justice plan unveiled Thursday by the former congressman and Cleveland mayor.
“The criminal justice system, in Ohio as well as nationally, has a shameful record of disproportionately targeting, prosecuting, jailing, and otherwise discriminating against the African-American and Latino communities,” Kucinich said. “Arrest, conviction, and incarcerations statistics are clear and incontrovertible evidence of that fact.”
Kucinich said laws are needed “that prohibit those with mental health issues that make them a danger to themselves or others from owning a gun. No one with weapons under disability charges, a conviction of a violent felony, or a mental health issue presenting a danger should have access to weapons.”
He said his administration would support the right of local communities to enact laws about local gun bans: “For example, Cleveland attempted to ban assault weapons years ago and should have been supported, not opposed, by the state.”
Kucinich wants to standardize probes of all possible law enforcement misconduct, calling for “a transparent process of public review in the event of unnecessary aggression, brutality, or the possibility or suspicion of wrongful death.”
He also criticized police agency overkill on equipment: “No military equipment or ordnance used by the U.S. Department of Defense shall be used for purposes of law enforcement or crowd control anywhere in the state of Ohio.”
And he added: “We must reform our police departments; and establish a powerful community relations approach to law enforcement that de-emphasizes the use of extreme or deadly force and emphasizes training in de-escalation, community relations, and recognition of mental health issues.”
But Kucinich also wants higher-paid police officers, too.
“Law enforcement personnel must not only be better trained, they must also be better paid, given the serious, sometimes dangerous nature of their work. And, that training will be ongoing, and it will include racial sensitivity training,” he said.
As governor, he said he would work with local police agencies to ensure every officer is equipped with body and dash cameras and that adequate data storage hardware and software is available.
Kucinich threatened to withhold local government funding until the cameras are in place.
To encourage officers to live in communities they serve, Kucinich proposed refunding their state tax obligation for living locally.
Pledging to break up the “prison industrial complex,” he said he would issue an executive order to bar sentences to for-profit prisons.
He decried the fact that “Ohioans are spending millions of dollars a year to house low-level nonviolent offenders, particularly those convicted of committing petty drug offenses such as the use of marijuana,” and promised a review to determine how many inmates’ sentences should be commuted.
Kucinich also wants to legalize and tax recreational marijuana in Ohio “to provide the hundreds of millions of dollars in increased revenues that will help pay for expanded health and mental health programs.”
Plus he wants to change Ohio’s bail system “so that the only people who are incarcerated while awaiting trial are those who pose a legitimate flight risk or a public safety threat — not accused individuals who simply could not afford bail.
Being poor or having limited financial resources should not be jailable offenses.”