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Kasich Asks Panel to Look at Dispatcher Communication
By: Associated Press
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CLEVELAND (AP) – Ohio’s governor wants a state task force that’s examining police department improvements to consider statewide standards on how communications between dispatchers and police officers should be handled.
Republican Gov. John Kasich made the request last week after a grand jury voted not to indict two Cleveland police officers for the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy playing with a pellet gun. A 911 call taker never told the dispatcher who sent the officers to a Cleveland recreation center in November 2014 that a “guy” waving a gun might be a juvenile and the weapon might be a “fake.”
The co-chairwoman of the task force, which was created after Tamir’s death, says officers need all information available before responding to a call.