EAST PALESTINE — After fielding questions from residents village council has opted to table legislation that would lower the minimum age for law enforcement officers.

City Council was moving forward with legislation that would change the minimum age to 18 before opting to table the matter following public input during the May 11 council meeting.

Council was prepared to give a third reading to the ordinance, which if passed would have finalized the change, before residents shared their concerns.

Tabling the legislation allows council to hold off on a decision while giving the matter more consideration.

Village Manager Antonio Diaz-Guy said some residents expressed concerns about whether an 18 year old would be well suited to be in the difficult position of policing.

“The feedback was valuable and was considered by our council during the meeting and afterwards. While we at the village understand internally that the desire was not to hire ‘a random 18 year old’ and then put them immediately into the field, with no preparation, we understood that the general public may have concerns,” he said.

Diaz-Guy went on to say that the consideration to lower the age was not due to an immediate need for additional police officers, but rather because there was an applicant who was highly qualified that did not meet the existing age requirement.

The village currently has the minimum age set to 21 years old and the applicant is 20.

“We questioned how our existing rules limited our ability to bring the most appropriate and most qualified individuals into these critical roles,” Diaz-Guy said.

The department currently has 11 full-time officers, 1 part-time officer, and 8 dispatch personnel.

“We stand by our officers, our Field Training Program, and the OPOTA (Ohio Peace Officer Training Association) certification, and understand our detailed interviewing standards, but it was council’s opinion, which I share, that for now, we should table this discussion,” Diaz-Guy explained.