The Warren City Police Department is not among the law enforcement agencies across Ohio to receive the Ohio Collaborative Community Police Advisory Board certification.

In response to more oversight on police in the state, Governor Mike DeWine this week called on more agencies to attain that certification.

The Ohio Collaborative is a 12-person panel of law enforcement experts and community leaders from throughout Ohio that has established standards for the use of deadly force as well as police recruitment and hiring.

Although the Warren City Police Department has not attained that certification, Warren PD officials claim they're following even stricter guidelines.

The Warren Police Department spent well over a decade in investigation and oversight by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The police department has at least 50 officers trained in crisis response, and Warren Police officials say there are also now strict policies in place defining the use of force, and oversight to make sure no one's rights are violated.

The DOJ guidelines were more stringent than the Ohio Collaborative," said Safety-Service Director Eddie Colbert. "We decided to stay with the DOJ recommendations rather than the Ohio Collaborative."

Nationally, calls are emerging from activists and elected officials to defund police departments but that's not a topic of conversation in the City of Warren.

Defunding or dismantling means taking money from police agencies and using it to fund other agencies.

Police often deal with situations such as terrorism, services for the homeless, work with children in schools, and respond to calls for mental health crises.

But the acting chief said this is something all of the department officers are prepared to do.

"The majority of our police officers go through crisis intervention training which is conducted by NAMI the National Alliance on Mental Illness) and it's great training," said Captain Jeff Cole. "We are prepared so that is money well spent if you are asking me."