2025 Law Enforcement Certification, Accreditation Report Charts Continued Progress

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – The Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS) announced yesterday that 90% of Ohio’s population is now served by a law enforcement agency meeting or seeking to meet standards developed by the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board.  

The 2025 law enforcement certification and accreditation report provides an update on the number of law enforcement agencies that have implemented Ohio’s statewide minimum standards. Additionally, this year’s report also includes information for the first time about the new accreditation process that was established by Governor Mike DeWine last year.

The certification progress outlined in the report covers the 13 standards in place at the time for the 2025 reporting period. The Ohio Collaborative Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, comprised of 32 best practice standards, was created by the Ohio Collaborative as an enhancement to the existing standards in the certification program. A total of 10 agencies so far have been accredited in the new process. An additional 20 agencies are in process of completing the accreditation program.

The 2025 report’s updated numbers reflect that 615 law enforcement agencies have adopted the initial two standards concerning use of force and hiring and recruiting. In addition, 90% of law enforcement officers are employed by a certified agency or an agency actively seeking certification. Since the establishment of the standards, 477 agencies, an increase of 26 since the 2024 report, have achieved recertification in those same standards.

“Our efforts to help Ohio law enforcement agencies improve their professionalism is ongoing and will never end,” said Nicole Dehner, OCJS executive director and chair of the Collaborative. “The implementation of the accreditation process is just the latest way we are serving police departments and sheriff’s office throughout the state.”

To receive certification, agencies must be compliant with two mandatory safe policing practices: adherence to applicable federal, state, and local laws, and prohibition of choke holds, a physical maneuver that restricts an individual’s ability to breathe for the purposes of incapacitation, except in those situations where the use of deadly force is allowed by law.

The first two standards were developed by the Ohio Collaborative in 2015 to improve the trust between citizens and law enforcement officers.

OCJS partners with the Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association and the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police to help certify Ohio’s law enforcement agencies in the state and federal standards.

For more information, please visit the Ohio Collaborative’s web site.