Cedar Point not above the law

We didn't intend a fight with Cedar Point, but that's where it's landed. For years, the park has operated a police department with little to zero oversight from any independent party. Newspapers normally serve that role, in some capacity, some more than others. Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster will not open for the rest of the 2021 season. File photo The Register has served that role with distinction. Reporting by the newspaper led to disciplinary action for some officers, terminations for others and prison cells for some. The news team here in Sandusky has been an active and effective watchdog for good government across our region for years, and we pride ourselves in that. It's right we would. And, for years, we never worried too much about the Cedar Point Police Department and its daily activities. The park is not the same as a city or a township or a village or a county, where our customers live. It's not subject to crime in the same way, and its management is a private team of capitalists and their employees patrolling a private property. It's just not the same. But, on Aug. 15, that arrangement changed when a woman standing in line was hit in the head by a piece of steel that came loose from a train on the Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster. Park officials made one brief announcement, neglected to identify the woman and walked away. They failed to inform the public and the information they did provide was self-serving. Giving a private company police powers without the responsibility to act in the public interest is a bad idea in theory and in action. It's an open invitation to abuse and decisions based on the self-interest of the company, not the public's interest. And that's what's happening now, in this incident, and in the park's continuing negligence in properly tracking and disclosing crime and other activity. In 2015, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that companies, including universities and others that manage private police forces, are required to track and report crime and other issues of significance the same as public agencies are required by state law to do that. The High Court's logic is that, if a private agency is fulfilling the functions of a public agency, then it should follow the same laws and regulations that public agencies must follow. On Aug. 15, the Register filed a complaint with the Ohio Court of Claims, asking the court to rule that Cedar Point must follow the law the same as other private police forces. We are quite certain that is the right result. If the park is going to maintain a police department, then it should behave as one, and follow the laws of the state. * Read related news coverage at the links below. Click here to subscribe