Shining blue lights for Columbus police

Anumber of business owners and area residents are changing out white lights to go blue.

The blue lights are to show support for law enforcement and their families as well as pay respect for fallen officers, said Columbus police Cmdr. Bob Meader.

The event, which casts the Downtown skyline in blue, features light changes by Nationwide and American Electric Power.

This year, the Leveque Tower is among the new participants.

“It’s supposed to be pink for Komen (Race for the Cure) and they deferred to us,” Meader said.

The event, dubbed “Light Central Ohio Blue,” goes through May 16. National Peace Officers Memorial Day is May 15.

The holiday, which started in 1962 under President John F. Kennedy, is marked with a service that adds the names of fallen officers on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. The memorial contains the names of more than 19,000 law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty.

This year, members of the Columbus Division of Police are expected to make the trip to Washington to honor Officer Steven Smith, who was fatally shot last year. Among them will be Jesse Smith, who is part of the city’s 127th recruit class, which is scheduled to graduate in July.

Jesse Smith will take his late father’s badge number: 1386. It will be the first time a fallen officer’s badge number is reissued.

The city will host its own service on May 18 at the Columbus Police Memorial in Genoa Park.

“Instead, (the officer) pulled over and placed (the woman) under arrest,” according to the report.

Going undercover

It’s not uncommon for police officers to go undercover to make prostitution arrests.

At the same time, prostitutes know officers aren’t supposed to expose themselves leading up to an arrest.

According to an arrest report, a Columbus police undercover officer drove up to a suspected prostitute during a recent sting on the West Side and asked about paying for two sex acts. The woman responded: “You aren’t police, are you?”

The officer told her that he was not.

To be sure, the woman said, “Pull it out, I want to see it.” That translates to a cop check.

Checkpoint results

Franklin County DUI Task Force did not make any drunken driving arrests during a weekend checkpoint. That’s actually common. The highly publicized events, which often involve checking vehicles, remind people to not drink and drive. The most recent checkpoint was held Friday night in Prairie Township on Norton Road just south of West Broad Street.

A total of 400 vehicles went through the area. Of those, 250 were checked. Twenty-nine citations were issued and one misdemeanor warrant arrest was made.