Cedar Point above the law?

SANDUSKY — Cedar Point officials continue asking for special treatment under state law, ignoring its obligations to properly track and report crime and other activity that happens at the park. "If you would provide the Register's legal counsel's contact information, I can connect them with our legal team for further clarification," park spokesman Tony Clark wrote the Register in response to records requests the Register filed with the park. The state's Public Records Act (ORC 149.43) does not require anyone, including newspapers, to engage the services of an attorney to make a public records request. The Cedar Point Police Department is required to comply with the law the same as any other police agency in the state, according to a 2015 Ohio Supreme Court ruling. The park's general manager, Carrie Boldman, hung up when a reporter called her. Calls to Jason McClure, Cedar Fair's corporate vice president for park operations, went immediately to voicemail. Boldman and McClure have not responded to written requests to them asking that the park comply with the law. Long time coming A bipartisan bill requiring Cedar Point's police force to make its reports public failed in 2014 in the Ohio General Assembly after getting little support. But the legal issue was settled in 2015 when the High Court ruled that private police records are public records. Mike DeWine, then Ohio's attorney general and now Ohio's governor, submitted a friend of the court brief agreeing that private police records should be public records. DeWine said allowing police to operate in secret can have "serious" and "irreparable" consequences. The governor hasn't changed his mind, a spokesman said. Despite the fact that the legal issue has been settled, Cedar Point has refused to release reports on a Top Thrill Dragster accident Aug. 15 that left a Michigan woman critically injured. She was hit in the head by a piece of metal that came loose from the now-closed roller coaster. Her family issued a statement saying she was "fighting for her life," and they asked for privacy. The Register was able to obtain Cedar Point's initial report of the accident from the state, which is investigating it, via a records requests to it. The state initially responded it was not the correct party to release the report. A few days later, the report was released after the Register pressed state officials to either provide a copy of it or cite the exemption in the law that allowed it to be withheld. But the park now is refusing to properly respond to other records requests sent the park by the Register. The newspaper asked park officials to come into full compliance with state law by releasing daily police reports in the same manner that other police agencies provide the public this information. Here's why House Bill 429 by state Rep. Heather Bishoff, D-Blacklick, and state Rep. Mike Henne, R-Brookville, was introduced in February 2014 but didn't make it out of committee. It would have made records of private police forces at amusement parks, hospitals, colleges and other organizations public records, subject to Ohio's public records laws. The Ohio ACLU backed the bill, saying that it fixes a "glaring omission." "More than 800 privately employed police officers in Ohio are authorized by the state to investigate crimes, carry handguns and make arrests," the ACLU wrote. "However, unlike officers employed by public departments, they are not required to provide records to the public." Henne, who served until 2019, told the Register his measure failed after getting no support from leadership. He said he believed if private police officers are allowed to make arrests, the records should be public. "I'm a big proponent of open doors," he said. In 2015, the Ohio Supreme Court resolved a battle between a student newspaper and the Otterbein University police force, ruling the campus police were subject to public records laws. The 4-3 ruling in Schiffbauer v. Banaszak was a victory for Ohio's then-attorney general DeWine, who filed a brief arguing that Otterbein's records should be made public. "Like other law enforcement agencies, it clearly meets the definitions of a public office, the functional equivalent of a public office and an institutional person responsible for public records, any one of which renders its law enforcement records subject to the requirements of the Public Records Act," DeWine's brief said. "This status is clear, and the consequences of any Ohio police department operating to the contrary are serious and potentially irreparable." Don't ask, don't tell Clark, the Cedar Point spokesman, won't even provide public information about the Cedar Point Police Department, including how many officers it has or how many carry guns. Instead, Clark again requested contact information for the Register's legal counsel. Anyone is entitled to public records, and state law does not require the public to engage the services of an attorney to obtain records. Sandusky police Chief Jared Oliver said he doesn't know how many officers Cedar Point police has, but about 10 were sworn into office this year by Sandusky's city manager. The park's department is authorized by 127.04 of the Sandusky city code, which authorizes a private police force commissioned by the city manager and says such private police officers must get the same training as other police officers. Oliver said Sandusky's force does not supervise the Cedar Point police or receive Cedar Point's police reports. But Oliver said a Sandusky police officer is stationed at the amusement park all the time the park is open. When an arrest needs to be made, the Sandusky officer normally makes the arrest, and a Sandusky police report is generated. That report is a public record, like all Sandusky police reports, Oliver said. In the case of the Top Thrill Dragster accident, the Sandusky officer on duty heard radio traffic and came to the scene but had little involvement, Oliver said. Oliver said he often talks on the phone with Ron Gilson, the chief of Cedar Point's police. "We have a very good working relationship," Oliver said. * Read more about Cedar Point by clicking on the links below.