Mariah Crenshaw has spent years building a case that officers around Ohio are violating state law simply by continuing to serve as officers.
It started in 2014. Crenshaw runs the advocacy group Chasing Justice, and she wanted to know how the Cleveland Division of Police collects training documentation for officers who are hired from other cities.
In 2017, she started following one East Cleveland officer, Larry McDonald, who went from that small suburban police department to Cleveland, then, after a short time, back to East Cleveland.
She sought McDonald鈥檚 training records and found he wasn鈥檛 up to date with the state鈥檚 required annual training when he was hired in Cleveland.
鈥淚t just kind of exploded from there,鈥� said Crenshaw.
In 2018, she filed a lawsuit in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas arguing East Cleveland should remove officers from duty who did not fulfill the state鈥檚 required training.
That case remains open. Her investigation has since spread to departments statewide.
In early 2021, as a sergeant in the East Cleveland Police Department, . Crenshaw insists McDonald was illegally serving on the force at the time of the shooting.
East Cleveland Chief of Police Scott Gardner requested confirmation of McDonald's compliance with state training requirements from the Ohio Attorney General's office on Jan. 5, 2021, the day Belmonte was killed and received confirmation on Jan. 14.
Under , police officers in Ohio are required to complete up to 24 hours of training a year. The legislature budgets money for the annual training, and the Ohio Peace Officers Training Commission (OPOTC), which is part of the Ohio Attorney General鈥檚 office, determine .
According to Crenshaw鈥檚 court filing, in 2016 for example, officers were required to complete eleven hours of training: two hours on the use of force, two hours on de-escalation with a focus on mental illness, four hours on community-police relations, one hour on human trafficking, and two hours on general law enforcement.
鈥淲e found, out of 300 departments we audited, only five were in compliance with the state鈥檚 requirements,鈥� said Crenshaw. 鈥淭he records speak for themselves. They鈥檙e not taking the training.鈥�
On Nov. 22, Crenshaw filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court and named Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, state Auditor Keith Faber, OPOTC Executive Director Dwight Holcomb, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O鈥橫alley.
The lawsuit calls on the state of Ohio to conduct regular audits to ensure that police departments are requiring training and that officers who don鈥檛 complete it are removed from duty. It also calls for the removal and prosecution of officers who remained in service after falling out of compliance between 2015 and 2022.
Another issue, according to Crenshaw, is that police departments currently only have to self-report their training each year.
鈥淲e have poured through thousands and thousands and thousands of records throughout the state of Ohio and found a disturbing pattern,鈥� said Crenshaw. 鈥淣o one is watching law enforcement.鈥�
Scott Gardner, who took over East Cleveland's police department after Crenshaw鈥檚 2018 lawsuit against the city, said officers in his department are completing the required training. He said, however, the training sometimes will happen shortly after the state deadline, and it takes some time for records to be updated.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 actually know what she feels the remedy is to get back in compliance because, according to her, you鈥檙e still out of compliance regardless of what you do to get back in compliance,鈥� said Gardner.
Since Gardner took over two years ago, the department has conducted its own monthly audits of officer training, he said, and they checked with the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission to be sure they鈥檙e in compliance with annual requirements.
He said officers who fall behind on training can still perform other duties in the department.
鈥淥nce you fall out of compliance, you do not have arrest powers,鈥� said Gardner. 鈥淭here鈥檚 still jail duties. There鈥檚 still reports that can be taken from the officer. There鈥檚 still administrative tasks the officer can perform.鈥�
Crenshaw disputes Gardner鈥檚 description of East Cleveland policy.
鈥淭hey ain鈥檛 taking nobody off the street,鈥� said Crenshaw.
Part of the problem, which Crenshaw and Gardner agree on, is the lack of oversight from the state.
鈥淚 would welcome it. It would alleviate a lot of issues,鈥� said Gardner. 鈥淩ight now, I should be able to log in to the OPOTC site and see the status of all my officers.鈥�
Jeffrey Scott, the former head of the OPOTC, which also oversees the state police officer training academy, raised alarm bells about the state鈥檚 lax monitoring of officer training during his five months in charge of the commission.
In a meeting with Crenshaw, he said she showed them convincing evidence that some departments were receiving taxpayer funds from the state for officer training, but they weren鈥檛 completing the proper courses.
鈥淲e were just overwhelmed by her findings,鈥� said Scott. 鈥淭he state really needs to come in and do a comprehensive forensic audit of these records.鈥�
Police departments are required to submit a signed attestation document saying training was conducted as well as spreadsheets showing how many hours and what kind of classes officers completed.
In Crenshaw鈥檚 filing in Ohio Supreme Court, spreadsheets submitted to the state by East Cleveland between 2015 and 2017 showed classes like 鈥淩esponding to Sexual Assault Module 3鈥� and 鈥淎wareness of Cultural Diversity鈥� were completed online in seven minutes. Others appeared to take as little as three minutes.
State law requires local departments to submit a certificate documenting the completion of a required training course. According to Scott, OPOTC ended the requirement because there was no place to store them.
鈥淲e have an opportunity to fix this and do it right, but it鈥檚 unfortunate we have to go in front of the Supreme Court now to fix this,鈥� said Scott.
At the same time, Scott said there are many departments that go beyond what the state requires, and many acknowledge that the mandated training makes officers safer and better at their jobs.
In 2021, the state did not require training due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the legislature has budgeted $15 million for training next year. Scott said there is less oversight of how that money is spent than any other grants the state sends out to local governments.
鈥淣obody is watching the hen house and yet we鈥檙e sending out millions of taxpayer dollars with no auditing and no verification, other than an Excel spreadsheet and an attestation sheet,鈥� said Scott. 鈥淲e hold citizens accountable. Why don鈥檛 we have that same expectation of the leaders both at the state and our local level to do what鈥檚 right?鈥�
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor O鈥橫alley and Attorney General Yost declined to comment for this story.
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