Hurling beer cans at police and similar actions during a riot have now been defined as prosecutable acts after the East Lansing City Council on Tuesday night approved an ordinance that clarifies riot conduct.
The act doesn’t change any current laws but was drafted as a way to better define what students can and cannot legally do at a riot, said Assistant City Attorney Tom Yeadon, one of the writers of the ordinance.
Prosecutable actions include obstructing police, shooting off fire extinguishers, exposing body parts and failing to leave a public street or sidewalk after police have ordered rioters to do so.
Drafters said the measure has been well-received by students, and many students said having more knowledge about before the start of an assembly about what might get them arrested could stop a riot from breaking out in the first place.
“If they know exactly what the punishments would be, it would be helpful,” packaging sophomore Kelsey Johnson said. “It could possibly even deter them.”
Other students, like mathematics junior Ryan McBride, said by defining illegal actions, the ordinance could benefit nonparticipants who happen to be at the scene of a riot.
“It would be nice in that people who are just bystanders wouldn’t necessarily be prosecuted,” McBride said.
The Interfraternity Council and the Residence Halls Association are among student organizations that have shown support for the measure.
Some East Lansing residents, however, said city officials should remain open to other strategies before drafting the ordinance.
Erick Williams, a city resident, cited tactics employed the police department of Champaign-Urbana, Ill., in which city officials, police officers and students help plan celebrations to make sure a crowd is organized.
“Very few people get arrested and hurt there,” Williams said. “They’ve discovered an understanding for crowd behavior.”
East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said during the Tuesday meeting his department uses several tactics similar to those used by the Illinois department.
Rent ordinance
In other business, Council deferred voting on an ordinance that, under certain conditions, would make it easier for house owners to rent out their homes while the property is for sale. The vote is now scheduled for April 7.
The proposed ordinance seeks to aid home owners who face a “rigorous process to rent,” said Howard Asch, director of code enforcement and neighborhood conservation for East Lansing.
Asch said a possible concern could be that many houses don’t meet the criteria required by the ordinance, which states that the house must be being sold at a price at least 5 percent less than its assessed value.
The city has identified 15 houses on the market that meet the criteria, and more than half don’t comply, Asch said.
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