(a) Appointment. The Director of Public Service and Safety is authorized and empowered to appoint and commission private police officers, upon the application of the board of directors or trustees of any agricultural society, cemetery association, park or hospital; or upon the application of the owner of a tenement house or of any private grounds or buildings, shop, factory, manufacturing plant, store, warehouse or other place or structure; or in any case when in the opinion of the Director, the services of the private police are necessary for the proper protection of life and property, or the maintenance of order.
(b) Term; Authority. Private police officers shall have all the powers and exercise all the authority of regular police officers in the enforcement of the laws of the United States, the laws of the State, and the provisions of the Codified Ordinances and other ordinances of the City, and be limited specifically to the locality and the vicinity or place for which they shall be appointed.
(c) Bonds. All private police officers, before receiving their commissions, shall comply with provisions of Section 549.02
of the General Offenses Code, and shall show evidence of a performance bond of one thousand dollars ($1,000) and liability insurance of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Service and Safety.
(d) General Regulations. Private police officers appointed and commissioned as provided in the preceding subsections shall receive no compensation from the City, unless called into the service of the City. They shall not be subject to the law or rules governing the appointment to office in the Police Department under the merit system, but shall be subject to such rules and regulations as shall be promulgated from time to time by the Director of Public Service and Safety for the regulation and discipline of private police officers, and may be removed by the Director at any time for any cause deemed sufficient and reasonable by the Director.
(Ord. 9070/81. Passed 7-8-81.)
(e) Qualifications. The Director of Public Service and Safety shall require that each applicant for a private police officer commission be certified by the Peace Officers Training Commission of Ohio. They shall be required to show proof of completion and certification of the specified number of training hours required by the State of Ohio for Municipal Police Officers.
Each applicant shall be required to submit to a validation process deemed appropriate by the Director and accomplished by the policing authority. This process shall include, but not be limited to, a background investigation, fingerprints recorded, psychological profile, if one can be done at a reasonable cost, photographs, etc. A validated identification card shall be issued to each applicant subsequently commissioned.
(Ord. 9643/86. Passed 2-12-86.)
(f) Emergency Service. Private policemen shall at all times be subject to being called into the service of the City. When called into the service of the City, they shall receive like compensation as special policemen. Such private policemen shall be called into the service of the City only in the case of a riot or like emergency under the appointment powers of the Mayor as contained in and subject to the provisions of Ohio R. C. 737.10 and shall only be employed for the time such emergency exists.
(g) Definition. For purposes of this section, "riot" means a situation where four or more persons participate with each other in a course of disorderly conduct in violation of the Codified Ordinances or a situation where four or more persons participate with each other with purpose to do an act with unlawful force or violence, even though such act might otherwise be lawful.
(h) Strikebreaking. It is not the intention of this section to permit such private policemen to be called into the service of the City solely for the purpose of having them act as strikebreakers in a labor dispute between the City and the members of the Police Department.
(i) Fees. Private police officers shall be appointed and commissioned for a period not exceeding one year. The initial commission issued by the Director of Public Service and Safety shall have a fee assessed of fifty dollars ($50.00). Renewal of commissions shall be at an annual rate of ten dollars ($10.00). Funds derived from these fees shall be credited to the Special Police Equipment Fund for the exclusive use of the Police Department.
(Ord. 9070/81. Passed 7-8-81.)