AG Yost honors law enforcement, highlights agency collaboration at annual conference; RCSO's Kocheran among award recipients

With more than 400 in attendance from law enforcement agencies statewide, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost highlighted the expansion of resources and agency collaboration at the office’s 2023 Law Enforcement Conference.

“We’re at the start of a new era in law enforcement in Ohio, with officers who are better trained and better equipped to deal with the new issues and problems that are certain to arise,” Yost said during his opening remarks. “This means better service for the people of Ohio.”

The annual two-day conference, held Oct. 24-25 at the Hyatt Regency Columbus, featured three keynote speakers, a panel discussion led by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation on multidisciplinary cold-case work, and breakout workshops featuring 30 expert presenters from throughout Ohio.

Yost’s remarks highlighted how the Attorney General’s Office serves as a “force multiplier” to local law enforcement agencies, providing technological assistance such as MX-908 rapid drug-testing equipment and NIBIN crime-gun analysis; investigative help through BCI’s specialized units, including the Cold Case Unit; and training options through the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA), both online and at regional locations.  

Each year during the event, the attorney general also presents the Distinguished Law Enforcement Awards.

Among this year's honorees was Sgt. Eric Kocheran of the Ross County Sheriff's Office.

Kocheran was wrapping up paperwork at the end of his shift on Nov. 17, 2022, when, just after 5 p.m., he heard a knock at the back window of the Ross County Sheriff’s Office.

Kocheran went to the door and was met by a 42-year-old man, who asked him to go get more officers.

The sergeant’s body camera and the subsequent investigation by BCI would show that Kocheran asked the man why more officers were needed, and that the man said somebody was going to hurt his family and wanted him to hurt kids. The man then said he couldn’t do that, so “I have to do this” — pulling out a gun.

Kocheran told the man multiple times to put down his weapon, drawing his own gun as he did so.

The man fired, with the bullet bruising Kocheran’s heart, piercing his left lung and stopping in his liver. Somehow, miraculously, Kocheran was able to return fire, killing the gunman and ending a potential threat to Chillicothe residents.

The sergeant was flown to Grant Medical Center in Columbus, where he underwent multiple surgeries and spent two of the nearly four weeks he was hospitalized in a medically induced coma.

Kocheran is unlikely to ever return to duty.

Sheriff George W. Lavender Jr., who nominated Kocheran, said the gunman “was intent on killing someone that day.” And even though his sergeant “did everything possible to avoid taking a life,” he said, “in the end, by taking a life, he possibly saved countless others.”

The 2023 awards and recipients (with stories on the honorees available at https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/lec):

Lifetime Achievement Award

• John Gocala Sr., Chief (ret.), Commander, Instructor: Youngstown State University Police

Victoria Allen Civilian Leadership Award

• William Chattman, Eastway Behavioral Health (Dayton area)

Community Service Award (two awards given)

• Morrow County Sheriff John Hinton
• Officer Shawn Lutz, Columbus Division of Police

Training Award

• Officer Jerry Orick, Columbus Division of Police

Mark Losey Service Award (two awards given)

• Lindsey Alli, Columbus Division of Police
• Chief Timothy Sopkovich, Brunswick Hills Police Department

Group Achievement Award (two awards given)

• Central Ohio OOCIC/HIDTA Drug Task Force
• Ohio Northeast Smuggling Enforcement Team (ONSET)

Valor Award (two awards given)

• Officer Tim Goins, Miami Township Police Department
• Eric Kocheran, Ross County Sheriff’s Office.