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ORDINANCE: O-2004-35
SUBJECT: Amending Title 1 of the Lakewood Municipal Code pertaining to Penalty for Violation and amending Title 9 of the Lakewood Municipal Code pertaining to Public Peace and Safety.
ADDRESS: N/A
RECOMMENDATION: City Council approve the proposed ordinance.
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND OF SUBJECT MATTER:
The proposed ordinance amends Title 1 pertaining to penalty for violation and Title 9, pertaining to public peace and safety, by making the following changes:
· Issuance of a municipal protection order against a defendant. The proposed amendment changes the terminology from "restraining order" to "protection order" throughout Section 1.16.080 which grants municipal court judges the authority to issue a protective order against any person charged with a domestic violence crime under Title 9 of the Lakewood Municipal Code. This amendment corresponds to the language currently used in state law. A definition for the phrase, "until final disposition of the action" has been added.
· Resisting arrest. The proposed amendment updates the definition of
peace officer used in the resisting arrest provision to reflect the definition
used in the Colorado Criminal Code.
· Illegal use or possession of blue and red lights. This proposed amendment
mirrors the recently enacted legislation, which makes it illegal to use or possess
blue and red lights on or in a vehicle. This legislation was passed in response
to the 2003 abduction and murder of Lacy Miller. She was a 20-year-old student
at the University of Northern Colorado who was murdered in Fort Collins by a
man impersonating a police officer. The man used flashing red and blue lights
to pull her over.
A person violates this provision if he is in "actual physical control" of a vehicle that the person knows "… contains a lamp or device that is designed to display, or that is capable of displaying if affixed or attached to the vehicle, a red or blue light visible directly in front of the center of the vehicle." This device does not have to be "affixed or attached" to the vehicle; it just has to be possessed inside the vehicle and it must have the capacity to be affixed or attached to the vehicle. Authorized emergency vehicles are exempted from this restriction. Persons who are a member of a volunteer fire department or ambulance service and who possess a permit from the fire chief or head of the ambulance service are also permitted to use or possess such lights
· Impersonation of a police officer. The penalty for impersonating a peace officer was increased during this legislative session from a misdemeanor offense to a felony offense. The new felony crime of impersonating a peace officer requires that the person pretends to be a peace officer and performs an act in that pretended capacity. The proposed amendment updates the municipal provision to delete the conduct that now constitutes a felony. Instead, the municipal provision merely prohibits any person from falsely claiming, pretending, or holding himself out to be a peace officer.
· Crime of violation of a protection order. The proposed amendment changes the terminology from "restraining order" to "protection order" throughout the provision that makes it a municipal offense to violate a protection order issued by a Lakewood Municipal Judge.
· Invasion of privacy. This proposed new penal offense copies the language contained in a new state statute. This new provision would make it a to knowingly take a photograph of another person's intimate parts without that person's consent, in a situation where the person photographed has a reasonable expectation of privacy. This new crime was created by the legislature is response to concern over the recent proliferation of camera cell phones and the practice of using camera phones to take photographs in locker rooms. Definitions of the terms "intimate parts" and "photograph" are included.
· Unlawfully carrying a concealed knife. It is illegal to carry concealed a knife with a blade of over three and-one-half inches in length. The proposed amendment clarifies that the blade includes the entire edge beyond the knife handle, regardless of whether it is serrated.
· Statutory construction of Title 9. This proposed new provision makes it clear that provisions in Title 9 that are similar to conduct that has been designated as a criminal offense under the Colorado Criminal Code shall likewise constitute unlawful criminal conduct under the Lakewood Municipal Code.
· Place of trial. This proposed new provision specifically grants municipal court jurisdiction over penal offenses in which the writing, telephone call, electronic mail, or other electronic communication, which constitutes the criminal conduct, was either made or received. For example, if a Lakewood resident receives an e-mail, which threatens physical violence, municipal court would have jurisdiction over the case even if the offender sent the threatening e-mail from a computer in Grand Junction.
DATE OF FIRST READING: July 26, 2004
DATE OF SECOND READING: August 9, 2004
ORIGINATED BY: Police Department
STAFF PERSON RESPONSIBLE: Janet Young, Deputy City Attorney, 303-987-7108
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED: Ordinance O-2004-35
SUBMITTED BY: Ronald R. Burns, Chief of Police
REVIEWED BY:
Joni Inman, Director Mayor's and City Manager's Office
Michael J. Rock, City Manager
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