Legislation would make private police records open to public
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Records kept by private- police forces at private colleges and businesses would be open to public scrutiny, under legislation being considered in the Ohio House.
House Bill 429 was offered by state Reps. Heather Bishoff of Columbus, D-20th, and Michael Henne of Clayton, R-40th, after student journalists were denied access to police reports at a central Ohio college.
The bill is aimed at private colleges, banks, hospitals and others that hire private police officers to patrol their premises.
The officers have gone through the same training required of other law-enforcement, carry firearms and have the ability to conduct searches and make arrests, Henne said.
Bishoff said more than 800 private-police officers are not required under existing state law to maintain incident reports or other records or provide information to the public on request concerning arrests and other activities.
“A felony is a crime against the public,” Henne said. “And if we’re giving these private-police officers the same authority to represent the public by making the arrests, then the public needs to have the same ability to scrutinize their actions.”
He added, “When the private police officer is representing the public by arresting and detaining citizens, then the public not only has a right, but they really have a duty to hold these police officers accountable.”
The legislation would exclude officers’ home addresses and other personal information, which already is exempt from release under existing state law.