Deputy Chief Smith Weir of the Columbus Division of Police told the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee that, year to date, the division has taken 1,054 offense reports from short‑term rentals and that 119 of those incidents led to arrests or warrants.

"The number one reason we're concerned about are those large parties that have resulted in altercations or in a couple instances they've resulted in shootings," Weir said, adding that the most common offense at rentals has been domestic violence.

Weir described operational limits officers face when owners or on‑site agents are unavailable: when calls arrive late at night, officers must locate and contact owners before they can pursue trespass or other enforcement. He said the division currently maintains 2,273 agent authorization (trespass) letters on file and that those forms are uploaded to a system officers can access in cruisers.

"Requiring agent authorization letters to be signed as part of the permitting process for short‑term rentals would be a responsible way for owners to authorize us to solve problems when they are unavailable to solve them themselves," Weir said.

Chair Emmanuel Remi thanked Weir and said the committee will consider the recommendation while trying to keep the permit process simple. Remi framed the hearing as exploratory and informational and said no code changes were currently under consideration.

What would change: under the model Weir described, authorized forms would give officers immediate legal authority to trespass disruptive people from a rental unit without waiting for owners to answer phones or travel back to the property. Weir and staff said the practice is already used for other commercial properties and is a routine tool for the division when owner authorization exists.

Next steps and limits: committee members and staff discussed how such a requirement would be implemented in an online application and work with existing licensing steps. No ordinance language was offered at the hearing and no formal vote was taken; Council staff said the office will work with community stakeholders in the new year on possible policy changes.

The committee did not adopt any measure at the hearing. The discussion ends with the committee noting operational benefits and implementation questions to be addressed in follow‑up work.