The STAR Academy program was created last year by Yost’s office in partnership with the OPOTA to improve the preparation of people entering law enforcement careers and recognize academies that do well.
“We’re here today to recognize the excellence of the Dayton Police Academy,” Yost said when visiting the academy Thursday. He said the Dayton academy had met additional criteria such as passing at least 85% of its graduates on its test and provide additional curricula and training on “advanced topics.”
Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal said the academy provides about 500 more training hours than is required to become an officer.
“We are not satisfied with just achieving the minimum,” he said. “We believe that we are helping prepare our officers to deal with whatever will come next.”
When asked about problems with finding new recruits, Yost blamed the shortage partly on a tight labor market and partly that “our politicians haven’t done a very good job, most of them, in supporting the police officers that go out there on the streets and lay it all on the line.”
He also answered questions about public trust in police officers, calling it “absolutely key,” and saying academies like Dayton are important to train officers to a level that the communities can trust.
The attorney general added that he was requiring training for all Ohio law enforcement, and hoped to repeat that training yearly going forward. He likened the training to basketball practice, saying if you only coach a team once every three or four years, they won’t be very good.
“This is something that Ohio has fallen a little behind on,” he said.
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