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SALEM -- Salem police officers learned last year about recognizing abnormal breathing, de-escalating situations, minimizing use of force and responding to people with mental illness.
"How can we de-escalate the situation to where we don't need to use force, we don't have to make an arrest," Chief J.T. Panezott said.
Those were just a handful of the topics addressed during training sessions the department voluntarily completed in 2021 even though no training was mandated or funded by the state of Ohio.
"The police officers enjoy the training. We want to be better at our jobs," Panezott said.
Besides the various courses taken, officers in Salem do daily training on the policy platform Lexipol, which provides them with daily scenarios and equals 12 hours alone.
This year the state is requiring 24 hours training, with the first training a four-hour domestic violence refresher course. "We're happy that the state has funded training this year," Panezott said, adding that they're appreciative that the governor funded or partially funded police training.
Training that all officers took last year included a course in recognizing and managing abnormal breathing, whether the person having difficulty is someone under arrest or anyone on a call. Other department training included restraint or confinement of a pregnant woman, a common sense approach to de-escalation, anti-bias training, de-escalation and minimizing use of force, responding to people with mental illness, the Supreme Court of Ohio opinion for the Caniglia vs. Strom case involving community caretaking and seizing of weapons and law enforcement response to fire scenes.
Several officers also completed training for breaching interior and exterior doors and crisis intervention team training.
Other training that individual officers completed included use of stop sticks, proper use of nasal naloxone (the overdose reversal drug), basic life support, canine tactical combat casualty care, ambush awareness and preparation, interdiction for the protection of children, electronic surveillance, field training officer course, laser radar certification, chemical munitions instructor, less lethal defense impact munitions instructor, enhanced diversionary devise instructor, field force operations, criminal interview and interrogation techniques, pubic records 101: release or not, continuing education in law enforcement K-9 operations, child abuse and neglect and companion animal encounters.
Panezott said the department is switching out shotguns in the squad cars for less lethal weapons that shoot bean bag devices, giving officers another option.
Panezott attended webinars for use of force: policy or tactics and response to people in crisis: mitigating harm and enhancing the safety of all involved.
The department includes 23 full-time officers. That number includes the chief, a detective with the Columbiana County Drug Task Force, a sergeant with the Drug Enforcement Administration, an administrative lieutenant, a sergeant who also serves with the Alliance and Columbiana County Special Response teams, two K-9 officers, a juvenile officer and a school resource officer. There are also four part-time officers, but normally there would be six, and a part-time secretary. Recently, the department starting participating part-time with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force through the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
"We are very fortunate in Salem that we have the support of our public and administration. Our officers feel blessed to work here," Panezott said, noting they appreciate the support from the community. "Salem is and will always be a law and order city. We will continue to enforce the laws on the books."
Panezott also said dispatch is now fully staffed, with three full-time (72-hour) and three part-time (40-hour). There are several substitutes and a few more in training. He said they lost a lot of good people to full-time jobs from dispatch and from their pool of part-time officers.
This past year, he said a lot was done with the support of the administration to offer competitive wages and get benefits for the full-time dispatchers.
"I'm very happy with the way they have pulled together in that office," he said.
mgreier@salemnews.net