Raymore staff present omnibus criminal and traffic code amendments including golf-cart enforcement and domestic-violence language

City staff presented an omnibus package of proposed amendments to Raymore's criminal and traffic codes at a city council meeting, asking the council to consider revisions that would change how the municipal court and police enforce domestic-violence offenses, hindering-prosecution cases, golf-cart operation and registration, sidewalk-blocking parking and vehicle lighting/equipment violations.

Jonathan Fairborn, a city staff presenter, said the set of proposals "affectionately" could be called an "omnibus crime bill" and that the changes respond to items raised by the city prosecuting attorney, the municipal judge and the police department. "Over the course of the last several months, there have been a number of items ... that we feel the code needs to be updated and addressed relative to new conditions that have arisen," Fairborn said.

The most detailed elements described by staff include:

- Domestic-violence language: Staff proposed replacing references to civil adult-abuse statutes with criminal-code provisions so municipal court penalties—jail time, fines and required classes—can be applied at the local level. Fairborn said the current code cited Revised Statutes of Missouri sections that emphasize civil remedies (protective orders and child-support modifications) rather than criminal enforcement and that the…