University Police Detentions (S 516)

We opposed legislation which would "permit non-sworn public safety officers and non-sworn security guards at private colleges and universities to detain individuals within the campus's jurisdiction when the officer or guard has reasonable grounds to believe that the person has committed a criminal offense." We argued that this bill provides less-than-sufficient training for private university security personnel to give them the power to deprive individuals of their liberty and that the "reasonable grounds" standard provides a level of authority for detaining a person that is too vague and flexible to allow for such an intrusion on personal liberty.