Kennedy highlights police programs for helping veterans

LIMA — It can be an enormously difficult task for members of the military to readjust to civilian life, with many dealing with the effects of post-traumatic stress and even traumatic brain injury. Some find the answers in drugs, which can lead to crime and multiple encounters with law enforcement and the court system. On Wednesday, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy spoke to the chiefs of Allen County law enforcement agencies to highlight this issue as well as efforts to address it.

Speaking at the Allen County Emergency Management Agency office, Kennedy highlighted a program in Cincinnati that has shown promise when it comes to dealing with veterans from a criminal justice perspective.

“I went to speak about the military liaison program that the Cincinnati Police Department runs,” she said. “I took that program to Attorney General Dave Yost, and he created a veterans response program guide. And I was talking with the chiefs about why this is so important because you’re the first touch in the criminal justice system.”

Programs like this are aimed at recognizing when a person the police are dealing with is a veteran in crisis, along with creating avenues to allow the police to guide these veterans toward getting help. While these programs can look different depending on what resources are available, it could even start with something as simple as having an officer who is also a veteran wearing a pin showing that officer’s branch of service or some other visual cue as a means of forming a connection.

“And that allowed a veteran to see the officer as not just an officer, but also a veteran, and then to open up and share their story of what’s going on,” Kennedy said. “And then, they actually created a reporting system where there was a designation on a report that got sent back to the military liaison group. If you’re working a beat and that report gets sent over to you, you already know how many veterans have made a contact in the system, and then you’re acutely aware when you’re responding to a call if you have a veteran in distress.”

While programs like this can help on the law enforcement side, programs like veterans courts, Kennedy said, can also help divert veterans in the court system away from incarceration and toward treatment. This program is currently being used in Lima Municipal Court.

A summit is set to be held Nov. 17 in Columbus that will be simulcast online going into greater detail about these programs. For more information on the summit, go to https://bit.ly/3LzUIrn.

Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391 or on Twitter @cmkelly419.