One hundred feet and one minute.

The year 2020 has amplified demands for more equitable policing, more efficient government, and greater transparency. As police leaders around the world attempt to maintain order and safety during a period of large-scale civil unrest, they must also address criticisms that existing law enforcement practices include biased interventions and reinforce systemic racism. Many law enforcement agencies are also responding to increasing numbers of serious crimes that disproportionately affect society’s most vulnerable communities, while simultaneously facing calls to “defund the police” fueled by accusations that challenge the legitimacy of their policing tactics. The strategies used by agencies to manage protests and respond to rising calls for service are under heightened scrutiny, yet one might ask, “Have police leaders developed the internal analytic capacity to answer pressing questions about the fairness and effectiveness of their department’s practices?” Now, more than ever, the profession’s future may depend on leaders’ ability to leverage data to understand, acknowledge, respond to, and explain the impact of their chosen crime response and prevention strategies.

In the months of Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in May, President Donald Trump has called on local and state officials to crack down as harshly as possible — a call he repeated at Tuesday’s presidential debate. But experts say that Trump’s rhetoric and actions risk inflaming tensions and escalating protests further, instead of keeping the peace.

A statewide standard for Ohio police departments to follow when dealing with mass protests could assist small agencies that don't have experience in handling such demonstrations and give bigger departments the chance to review procedures, according to the head of the state's criminal justice services office.

A state board wants to create a unified policy for how Ohio police handle mass protests.

Following a summer of protests across the state, The Ohio Collaborative, a statewide panel that works to improve relations between the police and the community, is working on developing a new standard on dealing with such demonstrations nonviolently and allowing demonstrators to perform their First Amendment rights.

In response to mass protests across the state this summer following the death of George Floyd, an advisory board is looking into setting a standard for how police departments respond in Ohio.

On August 5, street medic Davis Beeman was using his truck to block other vehicles from driving into a crowd of protesters—a practice known as “corking”—when Portland police declared the gathering a riot. As officers used tear gas and munitions to push the crowd of protesters away from Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) East Precinct, Beeman sprinted back to his truck and tried to drive away.