Local Color on Marietta Gun Charges

I got an email with some "local color" about this story, where guns were found in a car at Marietta College. My correspondent has requested anonymity.

I was one of the first (then) Campus Public Safety officers sworn in as a police officer, in 1993. Prior to that, CPS was a security-only operation. Ohio laws changed in 92 (thanks in part to Chief Korn) to allow private colleges to establish police departments. Previously, if they wanted law-enforcement capability, they had to go through a court process to create constables.

In 93, when the police operation was created, the Board of Trustees would not allow us to carry firearms on duty at all. We had guns stored in a safe at our office, but in the time I was there, we never had occasion to carry them except for range time. As recently as two years ago, the CPS page at MC.edu had a FAQ about campus police officers and firearms; it basically said "they're allowed to carry, but they don't always carry." That question is now gone from the web page, and in light of VT, I suspect Howard convinced the BoT to let them carry all the time.

Howard Korn is a former Washington County deputy sheriff, and had been at MC since about 1988. He's done a lot for the CPS operation, but make no mistake: he's a stereotypical liberal, bureaucratic police chief. He's also worked with all of the people named in the stories. Winstanley was a Marietta cop for a while, and his cousin (I think) was one of my co-workers at MC (and that co-worker is now a lieutenant at MC Police. Minks was a deputy before he was Sheriff. At least 2 of the MC cops are ex-Marietta cops or Washington CO deputies.

As far as the CCW charge, that was SOP for the Highway Patrol if they ever found a gun during a traffic stop, instead of the more appropriate Improper Transport of a Firearm. I was never clear why they did it that way, but it was extremely common. ORC 2923 is the weapons section. I think I recall that the ITF charge may have gone away during the concealed carry reform.