State training requirements
Ohio Peace Officer Training Requirements
Who governs peace officer standards in Ohio, the annual in-service requirement, the mandated topics for de-escalation and crisis response, and who decides what counts for in-service credit.
Verified as of July 10, 2026
Who governs
Peace officer standards and training in Ohio are set by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission (OPOTC) and Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA).
Annual in-service requirement
Ohio Continuing Professional Training (CPT) is set annually by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission when the General Assembly funds it under R.C. 109.803. For 2025 and 2026 the requirement is 24 hours: 8 hours of OPOTC-mandated topics plus 16 hours of agency-selected pre-approved topics. The state reimburses agencies up to 100 percent of officers' salaries for the training, reimbursable up to 32 hours. The 2025 mandated 8 hours are use of force (3), ethics and ethics laws (2), legal updates (2), and arrest, search and seizure (1). The 16 hours must come from OPOTA-approved priority-topic categories, and courses must be OPOTC-approved unless drawn from OPOTA curricula.
Source: R.C. 109.803 and OAC 109:2-18-03 (continuing professional training)
Mandated topics relevant to CodeBlu
Use of force including de-escalation
Use of force is a recurring mandated CPT topic (3 hours in 2025), and OPOTA de-escalation curricula sit within the use-of-force training family.
Crisis intervention and mental health
Crisis intervention appears among OPOTC priority or agency-selected topic categories rather than as a fixed universal annual line item; recent years included crisis intervention among Advisory-set topics. It is a priority topic year to year, not a permanent universal mandate.
Ethics, legal updates, and arrest, search and seizure
Ethics and ethics laws (2 hours), legal updates (2 hours), and arrest, search and seizure (1 hour) were mandated within the 2025 CPT hours.
Who decides in-service credit
Centralized approval
OPOTC is the final approving and reimbursing authority for CPT hours; courses must be pre-approved by OPOTC under a CPT pre-approval application unless using OPOTA-provided curricula, and agencies select the 16 non-mandated hours only from OPOTC-approved offerings.
Source: OAC 109:2-18-03 and R.C. 109.803
What this means for training like CodeBlu
In Ohio, in-service courses are certified or approved centrally through Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission (OPOTC) and Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA), so credit does not rest with an individual agency alone. The honest framing for training like CodeBlu is professional development that builds the underlying skills; any formal credit path runs through the state's approval process. This is not a determination of eligibility: CodeBlu does not certify hours or grant credit, and agency policy, the state's process, and legal counsel govern.
Primary sources
- POST-equivalent siteOhio Peace Officer Training Academy (official site)
- Administrative codeR.C. 109.803 and OAC 109:2-18-03 (continuing professional training)
- POST-equivalent siteOPOTC 2026 Continuing Professional Training
Verified as of July 10, 2026. This page is reviewed on an annual cadence, and the date is bumped only on re-verification against the primary sources above.
Frequently asked questions
- Who sets peace officer training requirements in Ohio?
- Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission (OPOTC) and Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) sets peace officer standards and training requirements in Ohio.
- How many annual in-service training hours does Ohio require?
- Ohio Continuing Professional Training (CPT) is set annually by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission when the General Assembly funds it under R.C. 109.803. For 2025 and 2026 the requirement is 24 hours: 8 hours of OPOTC-mandated topics plus 16 hours of agency-selected pre-approved topics. The state reimburses agencies up to 100 percent of officers' salaries for the training, reimbursable up to 32 hours. The 2025 mandated 8 hours are use of force (3), ethics and ethics laws (2), legal updates (2), and arrest, search and seizure (1). The 16 hours must come from OPOTA-approved priority-topic categories, and courses must be OPOTC-approved unless drawn from OPOTA curricula.
- Who decides what training counts for in-service credit in Ohio?
- OPOTC is the final approving and reimbursing authority for CPT hours; courses must be pre-approved by OPOTC under a CPT pre-approval application unless using OPOTA-provided curricula, and agencies select the 16 non-mandated hours only from OPOTC-approved offerings.