1913.03 - Response to Non-Violent Protests; Use of Force and Deployment and Use of Equipment
(A) In accordance with the Permanent Injunction issued by the Honorable Judge Algenon Marbley on December 29, 2021 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in the matter of Alsaada, et al. v. City of Columbus, et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-3431, the following rules apply:
(1) Employees of the City, including the Division of Police, are restrained from using non-lethal force, including tear gas, pepper spray, flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets, wooden pellets, batons, body slams, pushing or pulling, or kettling, on nonviolent protestors to enforce dispersal orders, traffic laws such as clearing the streets or sidewalks, and/or misdemeanors, that were not committed with actual or imminently threatened physical harm or property destruction or with attempted or actual criminal trespass on private property or secured government buildings/facilities, areas, or structures.
(2) Employees of the City, including the Division of Police, may only enforce dispersal orders, traffic laws such as clearing the streets or sidewalks, and/or misdemeanors in a manner and under the circumstances described in division (A)(1) against nonviolent protesters, to the extent practicable, through citations or arrests, based on probable cause.
(3) Employees of the City, including the Division of Police, are prohibited from using the infliction of pain to punish or deter "nonviolent protestors" and are directed to avoid infliction of pain on any nonviolent protester when incidental to a use of force necessary to prevent or effectuate an arrest for crimes committed involving the actual or imminent threat of physical harm or property destruction or attempted or actual criminal trespass on private property or secured government buildings/facilities, areas, or structures, and/or when arresting, based on probable cause, an individual who allegedly committed such an offense. For purposes of this provision, reasonable incidental contact with individuals in connection with entering into or moving through a crowd to effect an arrest does not constitute the infliction of pain to punish or deter nonviolent protester action and does not violate division (A)(1).
(4) Individuals legitimately displaying "press, " "media, " "reporter, " "paramedic, " "medic," "legal observer, " or similar words and/or symbols are permitted to be present in a position enabling them to record at protests and/or to intervene to assist individuals who appear to have been injured so long as their presence does not physically interfere with a lawful arrest, involve entering a closed or cordoned-off crime scene, or physically interfere with medical aid already being rendered by an officer or an EMT/Firefighter, and that all individuals, regardless of their occupation or nonviolent activity, are permitted to record at protests or whenever any police officer interacts with the public.
(B) In accordance with the Permanent Injunction issued by the Honorable Judge Algenon Marbley on December 29, 2021 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in the matter of Alsaada, et al. v. City of Columbus, et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-3431, the following terms have the following meanings when used in this Section:
(1) "Kettling" is defined as a tactic where law enforcement officers surround a crowd of nonviolent protestors who have been ordered to disperse in a manner which prohibits them from having a reasonable route of exit (such as an unobstructed sidewalk, street, or alley) to comply with the dispersal order.
(2) "Nonviolent protestors" include individuals who are chanting, verbally confronting police, sitting, holding their hands up when approaching police, occupying sidewalks or streets apart from expressways or freeways, and/or passively resisting police orders in connection with the exercise of rights of free speech and association under the First Amendment.
(Ord. No. 1440-2022, § 1, 6-6-2022)
