Woodville, Ohio, is my candidate for the worst little town in Ohio.

The village has operated a speed trap for five decades. That’s a lot of “tax collection with guns.” But it is now, given the many different speed limits in close proximity to each other and the level of harassment, perhaps the worst speed-trap town in the state.

Indeed, the town now depends heavily on revenue raised by taking advantage of people. By bullying.

But the bullying reached a new level — a level that in a self-respecting town would cause outrage, uprising, and change — when a local policeman shot a dog named Moses. With no provocation. Just because he could.

Witnesses made clear that Moses was not threatening anyone. The cop shot Moses because he thought that’s what cops get to do — shoot if and when they please, at anything or anyone they please, because they are nervous or afraid.

But no good police officer thinks that way.

And no self-respecting town allows that kind of policing.

Woodville declined to discipline the officer.

And that’s an outrage.

An outrage so far unanswered.

No self-respecting town uses shaking down the public as a major revenue source.

No self-respecting town allows a trigger-happy cop to run amok.

No self-respecting town hires people to be police officers who cannot handle the pressure, or who shoot first and try to figure out what is going on later.

That is the opposite of good police work.

And that is how innocent people, as well as animals, get hurt.

One excuse for the traffic stops is that the town is protecting pedestrians. That’s pretty lame.

But let’s concede the point: Let’s say pedestrians, especially kids, need extra protection in Woodville. I like the idea of building a tunnel, or a pedestrian bridge, across U.S. 20. That would protect the public, rather than using public safety as an excuse to extort the public.

It is also not too late to discipline that policeman for what he did to a dog doing no harm — a creature, in fact, certainly adding more good to the world than human beings who abuse their power.

I would like to see Attorney General Mike DeWine impose a minimal standard of training for police officers in Ohio. If he feels he hasn’t that authority, then we need new state legislation.

I just hope some state legislator in northwest Ohio has the guts to introduce such a bill.

But the broader issues are bullying and self-respect. This is a town whose authority structure is built on bullying.

The citizens of Woodville must, at some point say: “Enough!” They need to replace the leadership team in town, starting with the mayor and police chief. This is what democracy is about: Out with the old and failed. In with fresh blood so there can be a new start.

It’s a matter of self-respect.

The people of Woodville must reform their town government — or resign themselves to living in a town that has disgraced itself and that people seek only to avoid.

Keith C. Burris is a columnist for The Blade.

Contact him at: kburris@theblade.com or 419-724-6266.

First Published February 15, 2015, 5:00 a.m.