2008 Woodie Awards
Bill would grant DPS freedom to pursue
Reid, Chris
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: News
State representatives are tired of college students fleeing from university police.
House Bill 1775, a bill that would authorize state college and university police to enforce traffic regulations on campus and pursue fleeing offenders beyond campus grounds, has been approved by the Crime Prevention and Public Safety committee in the Missouri House of Representatives. Tickets given by campus officers would carry the same fines and consequences they would if given by any other state police officer, including appearing on a student's criminal record and possibly affecting insurance costs.
The bill has come before the House committee three times, and Tom Johnson, director of the Department of Public Safety, has spoken in favor of the bill before the House committee several times since 2005.
The bill was drafted in 2005 after a court case involving a DUI incident at Northwest Missouri State University, Johnson said. The offender committed the crime on campus but was apprehended off campus, out of the jurisdiction of university officers, he said.
"The [offender] was able to get his conviction overturned in an appeals court because there was no proven statutory authority to allow the campus officers to pursue the [offender] off-campus," Johnson said.
The state gave the University of Missouri-Columbia board of curators the ability to establish regulations to control traffic on any thoroughfare owned or maintained by the university at any of its campuses. Johnson said the Board of Governors at Truman also now has that power but that it falls under a different statute.
The bill seeks to expand that authority to officers at all of Missouri's public universities.
Johnson said DPS already has the authority to pursue offenders off campus for all crimes other than traffic violations.
"There is a doctrine of fresh pursuit that allows officers to pursue a [violator] off campus if they see something going wrong on campus," Johnson said. "The bill would just expand that authority to cover traffic violations."
House Bill 1775, a bill that would authorize state college and university police to enforce traffic regulations on campus and pursue fleeing offenders beyond campus grounds, has been approved by the Crime Prevention and Public Safety committee in the Missouri House of Representatives. Tickets given by campus officers would carry the same fines and consequences they would if given by any other state police officer, including appearing on a student's criminal record and possibly affecting insurance costs.
The bill has come before the House committee three times, and Tom Johnson, director of the Department of Public Safety, has spoken in favor of the bill before the House committee several times since 2005.
The bill was drafted in 2005 after a court case involving a DUI incident at Northwest Missouri State University, Johnson said. The offender committed the crime on campus but was apprehended off campus, out of the jurisdiction of university officers, he said.
"The [offender] was able to get his conviction overturned in an appeals court because there was no proven statutory authority to allow the campus officers to pursue the [offender] off-campus," Johnson said.
The state gave the University of Missouri-Columbia board of curators the ability to establish regulations to control traffic on any thoroughfare owned or maintained by the university at any of its campuses. Johnson said the Board of Governors at Truman also now has that power but that it falls under a different statute.
The bill seeks to expand that authority to officers at all of Missouri's public universities.
Johnson said DPS already has the authority to pursue offenders off campus for all crimes other than traffic violations.
"There is a doctrine of fresh pursuit that allows officers to pursue a [violator] off campus if they see something going wrong on campus," Johnson said. "The bill would just expand that authority to cover traffic violations."
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