Although the Athens Police Department receives one or two parade permits application a month, Chief Tom Pyle said he has only received one application for a protest in the past year.
The Athens City Police Chief Tom Pyle has rarely, if ever, denied a group a parade permit.
The APD receives parade permit applications for a variety of uptown events, ranging from Ohio University’s annual Homecoming parade to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this October.
Pyle said that in the past year, he has only received one parade permit application for a protest march — the F--kRapeCulture march that occurred last October.
“We were never as fortunate again after that,” Pyle said.
Even then, it was only by happenstance that the group was able to obtain a permit before the march occurred.
“I actually reached out to them,” he said. “They didn’t come to me but we had heard through social media that they were planning a protest and a march down Court Street and suggested that they get a parade permit, that that was the right way to do things, and that it was the preferable way to do things.”
Pyle said he waived the fees for the group in order to make it easier for the march to occur.
“I’m very, very flexible with approving permits. … It doesn’t matter what the cause is,” he said.
If individuals hold a march without a permit, they run the risk of a disorderly conduct charge, which isn't all too uncommon.
Former Student Senate President Megan Marzec and two other members of the OU Student Union were arrested in late January during a tuition increase protest for marching while walking in the street. All three were later found guilty.
Ryan Powers, a member of the Student Union, said the charges indicated an attempt by the police to stifle their message.
“The police is (sic) basically now a political force and a legal obstruction to the kind of justice and fairness and respect that we deserve on campus and in Athens,” Powers said. “We have to take that into account and be strategic about how we move forward.”
Athens City Code requires that applicants apply for parade permits at least three weeks before the event takes place. The police chief has 10 days to approve or deny the request.
“It gets submitted with a check, unless I waive that as well, and then we process it,” Pyle said. “We assign a lieutenant to look at it and see what kind of police coverage is needed.”
Angie Waldron, administrative assistant for Pyle, said the department receives one or two applications a month, and that she can’t think of any time Pyle denied a request for a parade permit.
“If it was denied, it might be because they don’t have the proper fees paid,” she said.
That fee includes a $25 charge for processing the application, and any additional charges for police officers assigned to the event.
Those fees can sometimes add up.
In April, OhioHealth O’Blenness Hospital had to pay over $700 for its “Race for a Reason” event, Pyle said.
“Five-K races and things like that, those kinds of things take a lot of officers,” he said. “And it’s not the expectation of our community that the police department and the citizens and the taxpayers will shoulder that financial burden."
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="50edc6a2-501c-11e5-83eb-c3aa3294384a"}}
But Pyle said he couldn’t deny a permit based on ideological reasons, even if he wanted to.
“I’ve lived here my entire life, I know the sensibilities of this community,” Pyle said. “And by and large, the messages that have been protested bring awareness to the sexual assault ... the Black Lives Matter movement, the tuition protests, all of those are worthy causes that you need dialogue about.”
Powers maintained Student Union shouldn't have to obtain a permit every time they staged a protest.
“We’ve had many protests without permits," he said. "In fact we’ve never gotten a permit before for a protest. So it’s materially and empirically false. As long as people are willing to stand together in a collective, united way, we can use the space however we see fit.”
@wtperkins
wp198712@ohio.edu
