COLUMBUS — Over the last week one Morrow County police officer was shot, two Mifflin Township police officers were shot and one Marysville police officer was shot.
All three of these instances were while they were in the line of duty.
On Memorial Day evening, a Morrow County police officer was shot while responding to a domestic call. In the police affidavit, Morrow County Deputy Daniel Sherrer, attempted to deescalate Brian Michael Wilson. The affidavit said Wilson was sitting on the porch, with a firearm in hand, threatening to shoot the deputy.
“Anytime someone is giving you verbal commands, suggestions or strong verbiage, you have to be very careful if you’re not going to listen or violate it, because in most cases you’re only going to escalate the situation,” said Tim Dimoff, president of SACS Consulting and Investigative Services.
He said he doesn’t know if slowing down and not going near the shooter would have helped Deputy Sherrer’s situation, but he said they’re trying to train on these situations more. His firm has a team that does research nationally on aggression violence, police procedures and trends.
“There has been an uptick in aggression and confrontations with police officers across the country,” Dimoff said.
Dimoff said police departments across the U.S. are embracing critical incident training.
“The officers are being trained now in verbal judo, physical stance, physical things they do, verbal things they do, the tone of their voice, the words they use, how they approach people,” Dimoff said.
On Wednesday night, two Mifflin Township police officers were shot while conducting a traffic stop.
In the body camera video, the suspect, who police said is 21-year-old Daveonte Dixon, quickly jumps out of a car and runs from officers before shooting them.
Dimoff said police officers are realizing their approach must be slower and really analyze what they’re seeing and hearing.
Tania Hudson is co-chair for Ohio Families Unite against Police Brutality. She said there needs to be a solution to keep everyone safe.
“An officer should never have to worry about, or any of us should never have to worry about, our interaction with one another. You know, so I hope that we really get to sit down and communicate how to collectively be held accountable for certain actions on both sides,” Hudson said.
And she said there’s a lot that still needs to be done.
“I believe there should be a therapeutic treatment facility for our youth while they’re running rapid, to be preventionary, to prevent them from growing up to be in this situation, and I believe the officers should have some kind of compassion training as well as mental health,” Hudson said.
On Friday morning in Marysville, a suspect and an officer were injured following a shooting. This also took place while police were responding to a domestic dispute.
Dimoff said to try and lower the uptick of aggression and confrontation with police officers, all officers need to know this.
“Time is their best ally, that conversation that decreases anxiety and aggression is their best friend,” Dimoff said.
“We want a solution. I want to be a part of the solution. I’m not anti-police, I’m anti-policies, let’s go ahead and get together collectively and find out what it is we can do to make it safer for them to get home and for our children to get home,” Hudson said.
