In early November, Officer Dave Mathewson of the Syracuse Police Department received a call that a burglary was in progress at 906 Lancaster Ave. When he arrived at the unlit house, he said he noticed suspicious people inside.

As he approached the house, he felt the need to pull out his gun.

‘Turns out, they were a couple of pledges for one of the SU fraternities pulling a prank,’ he said. ‘Without knowing that, I felt it necessary to pull out my gun because you just don’t know who or what could be in there.’

When it comes to dealing with students, Syracuse University’s Department of Public Safety works with the local law enforcement to promote safety on and around campus.

Some SU students jokingly call SU Public Safety officers ‘Rent-a-Cops,’ but that might come to an end if Public Safety officers are granted peace officer status.

DPS is waiting for a decision by Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw, due by Feb. 15, which would grant the officers enhanced powers.

Students risk greater consequences if they are caught speeding, running stop signs or driving drunk on campus because Public Safety officers would have the power to enforce traffic violations. The officers would also be able to transport emotionally disturbed or arrested persons against their will, carry out investigations, make arrests on campus, and, for the first time in at least 30 years, carry firearms.

‘They don’t like to admit it, but they may need a campus safety with more powers than they have right now,’ said Chief Mike Heenan of SPD.

Currently, DPS officers cannot pursue cars that speed or roll through stop signs on or around campus, or pull over drunk drivers.

‘The most we can do is call the police with a description of the car,’ said Senior Lt. Grant Williams, who has been a Public Safety officer for 34 years. ‘Most of the time, they will say that a police officer would have to have actually witnessed the speeding and that they can’t do much about it.’

With peace officer status, Public Safety officers would be able to run license plate checks through the same database as SPD, which gives access to a person’s full name, address, and a physical description. The database also provides information past criminal records, parole file and arrest warrants.

Also, Public Safety officers would be allowed to write up violators in the DPS patrol region which include North and South Campus, Manley Field House and Drumlins Country Club.

Because traffic enforcement is an enhanced power, Comstock Avenue and East Colvin Street would be additional zones for which DPS is responsible, said Marlene Hall, the director of Public Safety.

Peace officers would also conduct on-campus investigations, which include interviewing the victim, obtaining all information including the time he or she left and returned, and determining whether or not property was stolen.

DPS would continue the investigation, eventually turning it over to the District Attorney’s Office, rather than passing the case off to SPD, which is what happens now.

‘Let’s say you have a $3,000 laptop stolen from your dorm room,’ said Todd Hage, patrol officer. ‘This is grand larceny because of the value of the item stolen. Right now, we would have to get police involved. But if we had peace officer status, we would not.’

Peace officer status would not change how student house parties are handled, though. Parties are mostly held off campus, which is outside of Public Safety’s jurisdiction whether they become peace officers or not, Williams said.

‘Party complaints are usually called in to the police by residents, and then they’ll get on the phone and call [DPS] to help assess the situation,’ he said.

Peace officers would be able to issue citations with the same force as police citations, but because police officers are called before Public Safety, this situation is not likely to arise, Hage said.

‘Students could be arrested on the spot and get a judicial referral,’ he said.

Peace officers would also be able to transport an emotionally-disturbed person to a hospital or interdict in cases of domestic violence, in which DPS is currently not allowed to become involved.

Peace officer status would allow an officer to take all necessary steps without calling police help. They could also arrest all students involved in disputes and defer them to the SU Office of Judicial Affairs if counseling is needed, Williams said.

Although the departments have a good working relationship, there are officers in both organizations who support or oppose peace officer status.

Hage patrols the university area, and said he supported upgrading Public Safety’s authority.

‘They would be taking calls, making arrests, and dealing with situations that we would normally respond to. It would make our job a lot easier,’ Hage said.

Despite being able to ease up SPD’s workload in the university area, SPD Officer Richard Douglas and another officer do not think that Public Safety officers should be given enhanced powers.

‘Public Safety officers are not in good physical condition,’ he said. ‘They wouldn’t be able to handle some of the situations if they became peace officers.’

Douglas said he doesn’t believe that the selection of officers in DPS are as good as those found in a city department. He also predicted that older officers would be given peace officer status because of their seniority, even if they aren’t in their peak condition, mentally and physically.

Hall said in an e-mail that in order to become a DPS officer the applicant must go through physical training, including running a mile and a half. They also go through a psychological evaluation and drug test.

‘We carefully scrutinize those applicants to see if they can fulfill both professional and community expectations,’ she said. ‘Even after hiring, all personnel are formally and informally evaluated throughout their careers.’

Asst. News Editor Terrence Johnson

contributed to this report.

 

Published on February 2, 2004 at 12:00 pm