| Northwood Update |
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| Written by Daniel White | |
| Tuesday, 22 July 2008 | |
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Brian Ballenger, law director for Northwood, followed through on his promise to contact us this week to continue working to resolve the Northwood Incident. In a phone call with me yesterday, he again confirmed that his office is aware that open carry is legal, and that he has communicated that information to the Northwood Police Chief. Ballenger also reiterated that no charges were going to be filed against OFCC member Edwin Farbrother, an obvious fact since he broke no law. However, he repeatedly stated that he advises against open carry to avoid panicking citizens who may not be aware that such an action is legal (although I pointed out that the last two people "panicking" were off-duty police officers). Ballenger stated that a training session with the entire department would be undertaken within the next few weeks after two new hires began working. He offered to provide us with any written materials presented as part of that training. He was unable to tell me what steps would be taken in the meantime to ensure this doesn't happen again, and suggested the Chief would be the one to answer that question. I asked if he would join in our efforts to request a training memorandum from Ohio AG Nancy Rogers, as Willowick has, and he agreed. On the issue of the broken driver's license, his information was that the license was "old and crumbly" and had been broken inadvertently by the officer. My information, with supporting photos of the license in question, is contrary to that claim. Ballenger suggested that, too, was a matter to take up with the police chief. He was also unable to address the issues with the responding officers' behavior during the stop, which was beyond the scope of his duties as law director. OFCC will be taking up these remaining issues with Chief Thomas Cairl as soon as possible in an attempt to attain resolution. |