Police Cracking Down on Smoking Ban
Constitution-Tribune
Friday, Mar 05, 2010

The Chillicothe Police Department is stepping up efforts to cut down on illegal public smoking within the city limits.

According to a news release issued by the CPD yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, officers will be taking “proactive” measures to ensure that the smoking ordinance will be enforced.

On April 3, 2007, Chillicothe voters endorsed an ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places. The smoking ban includes the prohibition of smoking in taverns open to the general public, as well as private clubs.

Despite the passage of the ban, the police department has received numerous complaints of smoking violations within several local taverns, according to police Lt. Matt Rodriguez. He explained that officers will be providing unannounced compliance checks throughout the community, including taverns and that the date, time, and location of compliance checks will not be made public.

“Police officers will be investigating complaint-based violations as well as violations observed during the compliance checks,” Rodriguez said. He added that signs of smoking inside a public place including an odor of smoke, ash trays or other containers containing cigarette butts and ashes — will be sufficient for the issuance of a citation both to the violator and the establishment.