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Nan Whaley| Akron Beacon Journal

During my time as the mayor of Dayton and as Ive traveled to all 88 of Ohios counties on this campaign, what Ive heard over and over again is that everyone, regardless of what they look like or where they live, wants to feel safe in their communitywhile also being treated with respect. Its not hard to believe both of these things at the same time, but too many politicians try to set up a false choice between the two.

It doesnt have to be this way. As governor, Ill fight to make sure every Ohioan feels both safe and respected.

After the murder of George Floyd, Dayton like so many other cities took a hard look at how we could improve the relationship between our police and our community, especially our Black community. Where so many other cities fell short, I believe we succeeded. Why? Because we brought together the people directly involved to tackle these tough issues.

Over the course of 10 months, more than 100 Daytonians met for hours every week to examine our public safety policies and make recommendations for improvement. The groups included folks from all walks of life: clergy, activists, public defenders, neighborhood leaders, and importantly Dayton police officers.

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The result was hundreds of changes, including body cameras, better training and recruitment practicesand a new alternative responder model that will get people the help they need while allowing police to focus on their mission: preventing crimes. But just as important was the process itself. Not only did we build real trust between citizens and police, but we also empowered them to create these solutions themselves.

While challenges remain, we are seeing results. We have new citizen groups in place to continue to implement these policies and examine additional changes. In 2021, while so many other cities across the nation saw increases in violent crime, Dayton actually saw a significant decrease.

If we can bring people together in Dayton to tackle these issues, we can do it all across Ohio. As governor, Ill create a Cabinet Coordinating Council on Justice to better coordinate these efforts across agencies.

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Well provide better support to local communities to create innovative public safety and crime prevention programs, investigate potential problems, and recruit and train the best police officers, including setting up a new college loan forgiveness program for police.

My administration will work to reform Ohios juvenile justice system to provide better oversight and make our state a national leader in this area once again. Well ensure our prison system focuses on rehabilitation and that prison employees and incarcerated people are safe.

Finally, we will strengthen Ohios re-entry systems so that when people have served their time, they can successfully return to their families and become productive members of their communities.

These common sense, bipartisan solutions will make Ohio safer. Just like we did in Dayton, I believe we can bring folks together to get these things done.

I know that my opponents will try to lie about my record and divide Ohioans on these issues. So let me be clear: I have never and will never support defunding the police. Our police officers have some of the toughest jobs imaginable and I have incredible respect for them.

I was proud to organize mayors across the country to successfully fight for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for local police departments.

I also know that truly supporting our police means keeping them safe. Thats why I joined with police in opposing the permitless concealed carry bill that Gov. Mike DeWine signed that will put officers lives at risk.

Ohio deserves better than fear and division. No matter where you live in our state, you deserve to feel safe. I believe that is possible if we come together, reject the divisive politics of a few extreme politicians, and fight for our communities.

Nan Whaley is the former mayor of Dayton and a Democratic candidate for governor.

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Democrat Nan Whaley vows to involve police in talks about better relations with public - Akron Beacon Journal