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To amend section 5502.52 of the Revised Code to | 1 |
prohibit a person from making a false report that | 2 |
results in the implementation of the statewide | 3 |
emergency alert program or a local or regional | 4 |
emergency alert program. | 5 |
Section 1. That section 5502.52 of the Revised Code be | 6 |
amended to read as follows: | 7 |
Sec. 5502.52. (A) There is hereby created the statewide | 8 |
emergency alert program to aid in the identification and location | 9 |
of children who are under eighteen years of age, who are abducted, | 10 |
and whose abduction, as determined by a law enforcement agency, | 11 |
poses a credible threat of immediate danger of serious bodily harm | 12 |
or death to a child. The program shall be a coordinated effort | 13 |
among the governor's office, the department of public safety, the | 14 |
attorney general, law enforcement agencies, the state's public and | 15 |
commercial television and radio broadcasters, and others as deemed | 16 |
necessary by the governor. | 17 |
(B) The statewide emergency alert program shall not be | 18 |
implemented unless all of the following activation criteria are | 19 |
met: | 20 |
(1) The local investigating law enforcement agency confirms | 21 |
that an abduction has occurred. | 22 |
(2) An abducted child is under eighteen years of age. | 23 |
(3) The abduction poses a credible threat of immediate danger | 24 |
of serious bodily harm or death to a child. | 25 |
(4) A law enforcement agency determines that the child is not | 26 |
a runaway and has not been abducted as a result of a child custody | 27 |
dispute, unless the dispute poses a credible threat of immediate | 28 |
danger of serious bodily harm or death to the child. | 29 |
(5) There is sufficient descriptive information about the | 30 |
child, the abductor, and the circumstances surrounding the | 31 |
abduction to indicate that activation of the alert will help | 32 |
locate the child. | 33 |
(C) Nothing in division (B) of this section prevents the | 34 |
activation of a local or regional emergency alert program that may | 35 |
impose different criteria for the activation of a local or | 36 |
regional plan. | 37 |
(D) Any radio broadcast station, television broadcast | 38 |
station, or cable television system participating in the statewide | 39 |
emergency alert program or in any local or regional emergency | 40 |
alert program, and any director, officer, employee, or agent of | 41 |
any such station or system, shall not be liable to any person for | 42 |
damages for any loss allegedly caused by or resulting from the | 43 |
station's or system's broadcast or cablecast of, or failure to | 44 |
broadcast or cablecast, any information pursuant to the statewide | 45 |
emergency alert program or the local or regional emergency alert | 46 |
program. | 47 |
(E) No person shall knowingly make a false report that a | 48 |
child has been abducted and that leads to the implementation of | 49 |
the statewide emergency alert program created under this section | 50 |
or that leads to the implementation of a local or regional | 51 |
emergency alert program. Whoever violates this division is guilty | 52 |
of a felony of the fourth degree. | 53 |
(F) As used in this section: | 54 |
(1) "Abducted child" means a child for whom there is credible | 55 |
evidence to believe that the child has been abducted in violation | 56 |
of section 2905.01, 2905.02, 2905.03, or 2905.05 of the Revised | 57 |
Code. | 58 |
(2) "Cable television system" means a cable system, as | 59 |
defined in section 2913.04 of the Revised Code. | 60 |
(3) "Law enforcement agency" includes, but is not limited to, | 61 |
a county sheriff's office, the office of a village marshal, a | 62 |
police department of a municipal corporation, a police force of a | 63 |
regional transit authority, a police force of a metropolitan | 64 |
housing authority, the state highway patrol, a state university | 65 |
law enforcement agency, the office of a township police constable, | 66 |
and the police department of a township or joint township police | 67 |
district. | 68 |
Section 2. That existing section 5502.52 of the Revised Code | 69 |
is hereby repealed. | 70 |