Councilmember Klein Holds Public Safety Committee Hearing
For Immediate Release
May 2, 2014
For More Information:
John Ivanic, City Council, 645-6798
Councilmember Zach M. Klein, chair of the Public Safety & Judiciary Committee, will hold a public hearing on Thursday, May 8th, 2014, at 5pm to discuss proposed changes to the city’s criminal codes. The proposed changes would modify possible penalties for violations of different offenses in our criminal codes and would update the definitions of the offenses themselves, to bring our codes in line with the Ohio Revised Code. Public testimony will be accepted and the meeting will be broadcast live on CTV, Columbus’ government television channel 3 on local cable systems. Speaker slips will be accepted on the day of the hearing until 5:30 pm. The general rules of speaking before Council will apply.
Examples of possible modifications:
Public Indecency: State code enhances level of offense if victim is a minor (from M-4 to M-2) even on a first offense. Under current city code, whether or not the victim is a minor has no bearing (all 1st offenses are M-4). Change would enhance the offense to state level if victim is a minor.
Voyeurism: City code currently has no language that refers specifically to videotaping, filming, photographing, or otherwise recording another person in a state of nudity. Would ensure that such recordings or records would be able to be prosecuted as voyeurism, as under state code.
Telecommunications harassment: Not covered by city code. It was formerly “telephone harassment” under state code, but has been expanded to include email, texting, faxing, instant messaging, etc. Would add a section to criminal code to deal specifically with this kind of harassment, bringing our code in line with modern times.
Misconduct involving a public transportation system: Currently, there is no mechanism for a person to be “trespassed” off a COTA bus, only from non-mobile facilities owned by COTA. This proposal would add a section to prohibit a person from entering a bus once they have been notified by COTA that they are banned from using COTA services.
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