(a) Authority to issue Private Police Commissions. The Director of Public Safety, in pursuance with Ohio R.C. 737.05, is hereby authorized to commission private policemen and private policewomen not in the classified services of the City of Brooklyn, under such rules and regulations as Council shall grant.
(b) Rules and Regulations. The Director of Public Safety is hereby authorized to prescribe rules and regulations, and the uniform which shall be worn by such private policemen and private policewomen wherever and whenever their services are conducted. Such private policemen and private policewomen shall each give bond by a bonding company authorized by law in the State of Ohio in the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000) to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Safety and the Director of Law, and shall pay an annual fee in the sum of twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
(c) Uniforms.
(1) Any person, firm or corporation desiring to provide special police, watchmen, or detective service, either for itself or for hire to others, shall use no distinctive uniform, cap, badge or buttons, to be worn by such person or any employees of such person, firm or corporation, engaged for such purpose, until the form, design and color thereof shall have been first submitted to and approved by the Director of Public Safety, and a record thereof sufficient to identify the users thereof shall have been made by said Director of Public Safety. The Director of Public Safety shall prescribe such uniform, badge, and/or other distinguishing uniform marks for such private policeman or private policewoman as he may see fit in order to distinguish such private policeman or policewoman from regular police officers of the Division of Police, Department of Public Safety, of the City of Brooklyn, Ohio.
(2) No person not a member of the Police or Fire Department shall wear a uniform, cap, badge or buttons similar to, or in imitation of the official uniform, cap, badge or buttons at the time in use by the members of the Police and Fire Departments of the City.
(d) Duration of Commission; Weapons. No commission as such private policeman and/or private policewoman shall be valid for a greater period of time than one year from the date of issuance, and no person shall be commissioned as such private policeman and/or private policewoman who is not a citizen of the United States of America. The issuance of a private police commission shall not of itself constitute authority to carry firearms. Such private police must each secure from the Clerk of the Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga County a concealed weapons bond in the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000) in order to carry arms while on duty as provided for herein and in accordance with Ohio R.C. 2923.01.
(e) Application for Commission. No person shall be commissioned as private policeman and/or private policewoman unless he is licensed to do so. An applicant for such commission shall:
(1) Be at least twenty-one years of age or over, an American citizen, or have declared his intention to become a citizen.
(2) Be of sound physique, with good eyesight and not subject to vertigo, heart trouble, or any other infirmity of body or mind, which might render him unfit for the safe carrying out of the duties of such commission. Each applicant shall supply an affidavit to the Director of Public Safety for his application for a commission that he is free from any and all of the infirmities mentioned in this section.
(3) Be able to read, write and speak the English language.
(4) Be clean in dress and person, of good moral character and not addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors and drugs.
(5) Produce on forms to be provided by the Director of Public Safety of the City, affidavits of his good character from two reputable citizens of the City or the County of Cuyahoga, who have known him personally, and a further testimonial on a form provided for that purpose, from his last employer, unless, in the estimation of the said Safety Director sufficient reason is given for its omission.
(6) Fill out, upon a form to be provided by the Director of Public Safety, a statement giving his full name, residence, places of residence for five years previous to moving to his present address, age, height, color of eyes and hair, place of birth, length of time he has resided in the County of Cuyahoga, whether a citizen of the United States, place of previous employment, whether single or married, whether he has ever been arrested or convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, whether he has been summoned to court, whether his driving license has ever been revoked, and if so, for what cause, which statement shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant, and filed with the said Safety Director as a permanent record. The Safety Director is hereby authorized and empowered to establish additional rules and regulations covering the issuance of such commission of private policeman or private policewoman, not inconsistent herewith, as may be necessary and reasonable.
(f) Photograph of Applicant; Police Check. Each applicant for a commission as private policeman or private policewoman must file with his application three unretouched photographs of himself or herself, in such position as the Safety Director may direct, taken within the thirty days preceding the filing of his application. Photographs to be of a size which may be easily attached to his commission, one of which shall be attached to the commission when issued, the others shall be filed with the application in the office of the Safety Director. The photograph shall be so attached to the commission that it cannot be removed and another photograph substituted without detection. Where the application for a commission is denied, two copies of the photograph shall be returned to the applicant by the Safety Director. Each commissioned private policeman or private policewoman shall, upon demand of an inspector of licenses, or a police officer, exhibit his license and photograph for inspection. All applications for such commission as private policeman and/or private policewoman shall be notarized, and failure to list arrests and/or any other information desired by the Safety Director, would be considered falsifying the application and applicant would be subject to arrest. All applicants for special police work as such private policemen and private policewomen must be fingerprinted, and the Director of Public Safety, through his Division of Police, shall cause a complete record check made of the applicant’s character, or obtain any other information as he may desire.
(g) Identification. An identification card, with photograph attached, as outlined in subsection (f) hereof, shall be carried by such private policeman and/or private policewoman at all times while on duty in the City, in order to identify him or her, to our Division of Police, showing that he has been qualified to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Safety.
(Ord. 1967-19. Passed 4-24-67.)