COLUMBUS, Ohio — One of several bills recently signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, included Senate Bill 114.

The bill, primarily sponsored by Ohio Sen. Thomas Patton, R-District 24, “prohibit(s) law enforcement agencies from using quotas for arrests and citations.”

Specifically, the bill set out to make changes to a section of the Ohio Revised Code, mandating that agencies cannot:

• Use quotas for evaluation, promotion, compensation, transfer or discipline of officers
• Require or suggest that officers are required or expected to meet quotas
• Offer benefits (financial reward or otherwise) to officers based on a quota

The bill specified that it does not prohibit agencies from collecting and looking at the data on the number of arrests and citations “in order to ensure that a particular local or state police officer or group of local or state police officers does not violate an applicable legal obligation…”

It also does not stop agencies and/or officials from “assessing the proportion of arrests” and citations by an officer or a group of officers.

It also states that the attorney general must create an online-accessible form for reporting the use of quotas.

“Upon receiving a report, including a report submitted by an unidentified complainant, under this division, the attorney general shall investigate the alleged use of quotas in violation of any of those divisions by the law enforcement official or agency that is the subject of the report and whether any of the circumstances described…apply,” the bill reads. “The investigation shall be conducted within one year after receiving the report.”