Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw has accepted a Feb. 11 recommendation of the Syracuse University Senate supporting peace officer status for selected SU Public Safety
officers and has instructed Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Marlene
Hall to move forward with planning.
Among their new capabilities, Public Safety officers commissioned to be peace
officers can enforce orders of protection related to domestic violence, issue
appearance tickets, issue tickets for vehicle and traffic violations, respond
more appropriately to traffic accidents and transport the seriously mentally ill
for medical assessment.
According to Hall, implementation will be carried out over three years and
involve training of 47 DPS personnel and acquisition of new equipment, including
sidearms, vehicle lights and sirens. In addition, the department will be able to
access information from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
Public Safety will work with the Syracuse Police Department and the New York
Department of Criminal Justice Services to design a training curriculum that
augments the 281-hour training academy for DPS officers already administered by
the Syracuse Police Department. In addition, the current memorandum of
understanding between DPS and the Syracuse Police Department will be assessed
and updated to reflect the new status.
DPS supervisory staff will be the first to go through the peace officer
curriculum, which will include drug and psychological screening and NCIC
training. This first group will number 16 individuals, Hall says. Sixteen
officers will be trained in the second year and 15 officers in the third year.
Training is not likely to begin before January 2005, and the campus should see
the first fully trained and equipped peace officers by summer or fall of 2005.
Among the new equipment will be lights, sirens, in-car video and protection
screens for 14 DPS vehicles; at least one motorcycle will be equipped with
lights, siren and video capability. Trained DPS peace officers will be outfitted
with sidearms, safety holsters, and gun locks and belts.
"The Department of Public Safety, working with community and law enforcement
partners, has tried and will continue to use numerous methods to prevent and
address crime on and near campus," Hall says. "We see the peace officer status
as a positive move that will significantly enhance our partnerships and services
for the community. All of us at DPS, at peace officer and all other ranks, will
continue to diligently contribute to a safe, diverse and vibrant quality of life
that is so unique to the University community."
In Oct. 2003, Gov. George E. Pataki signed a bill amending the state criminal
procedure law enabling SU to designate selected DPS officers as peace officers,
subsequent to the completion of training and all other qualifications.
The New York State Senate had previously passed the bill in May 2003, followed
by the Assembly in June 2003, with the support of Sen. John A. DeFrancisco (R,
Syracuse), Assemblyman William B. Magnarelli (D, Syracuse) and Assemblywoman
Joan K. Christensen (D, Syracuse).
The legislation adds to the enhanced authority granted to SU Public Safety
officers by state law in 1995. In 2001, a team of external consultants from the
International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators reviewed DPS
and recommended that the University explore peace officer status.
Since Pataki's signing of the legislation, the peace officer status has been the
subject of public forums, committee presentations and a Web site
http://sunews.syr.edu/peaceofficer/index.html . Then, in its "Sense of the
Senate" vote on Feb. 11, the University Senate approved the following motion:
"The University Senate supports the plans to change some SU Public Safety
personnel to Peace Officer status."
The move to peace officer status was also recommended by the Student
Association, the Residence Hall Association, College Crime Watch and the
University Senate Committees on Student Life and Administrative Operations, as
well as Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, Syracuse
Police Department Chief Dennis T. DuVal, DeWitt Police Chief Gene Conway,
Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin E. Walsh, the Central New York Association of
Chiefs of Police, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and
the Crouse-Marshall Business Improvement District.
