Cops deny selective enforcement

by PAUL MORTON

Associate editor

While Oberlin police steadfastly deny showing preferential treatment to college students, last week they were scouring records to prove it after city council heard accusations of selective enforcement of open container laws.

At council's Sept. 8 meeting, Tracie Haynes said police selectively enforced open container laws over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Specifically she said police department dispatch logs from the night of Saturday, Sept. 5 to early Sunday morning, Sept. 6, showed numerous incidents of open containers involving students, but no citations.

She said she became aware of the situation when she came downtown on Sunday morning and saw the sidewalks littered with beer cans and bottles. She found a police officer who she asked about the litter, and was told several parties occurred downtown Saturday night and Sunday morning.

"I inquired about what the police did," Haynes said. "I have here the logs from that evening. There were no police arrests, no heavy fines or violations."

Police logs for that evening and early morning, from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. show six entries explicitly related to open containers of alcohol, and a number where alcohol use can be assumed. None of the entries show any citations issued.

Police public information officer Lt. Mike McClosky said because an open container violation is a minor misdemeanor, officers are given discretion on whether to issue a citation or a warning. He said the department has no hard and fast rules for determining when to use that discretion.

"It's the on-scene observations of the officers, whether the subject they're dealing with is compliant or non-compliant, things like that," McClosky said. "There's no definite policy in place."

Haynes compared the treatment received by college students at the parties over the weekend to that of a local resident who was cited during the summer for open container. She said police seemed to be applying a double standard or were engaging in selective enforcement of open container laws.

"How do I explain that an open container in this situation is highly illegal, unacceptable, and an open container in another situation they get advised?" Haynes said.

McClosky said officers have much more contact with college students than townspeople in open container situations. He said he is sure a review of citations issued would show far more students are cited than townspeople, but warnings would be more difficult to prove.

"It's really difficult because some officers give written warnings, some give verbal warnings -- hey, dump that out, you can't have an open container," he said. "And they're logged in different ways. It all depends on what the officer tells the dispatcher. He could say I advised them, they poured it out. Or he could say, I'm out with a few subjects at Morgan Street Reservoir. I advised them and they're on their way."

Haynes asked city manager Eric Norenberg to investigate. McClosky said he had a meeting with Norenberg the following morning, and was reviewing records for information to share with city council.

In his weekly city manager's update, Norenberg briefed council on his findings. He said for the period of 2007, 2008, and this year to date, Oberlin police have issued 32 adult open container citations, including five to Oberlin residents, 10 to non-residents, and 17 to Oberlin College students.

Broken down by race, 29 of those cited were Cauasian, and three were African American.

Norenberg said in the case of officer discretion, several of the parties on the night in question were attended by 50 or more people. He said officers were not told not to cite partygoers.

"In this case, the directive was not a blanket 'don't cite' instruction; rather officers were instructed to provide warnings and education," Norenberg wrote. "If, after the warning, the host or party goers fail to comply, officers can and will issue citations for the violations."