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Wednesday, July 02, 2003

By Jane Elizabeth, Post-Gazette Education Writer

Edinboro University of Pennsylvania Police Chief Thomas Nelson has been not-so-quietly seething for years about laws that keep his officers sitting on their hands while borough police respond to calls involving students at apartment buildings right across the street from his campus.

Under legislation that's headed for Gov. Ed Rendell's desk, though, campus police would have the power to respond to incidents involving their students at bars in town or apartments near campus, and finally would be allowed to go off-campus during all police chases.

"This brings us to the level of municipal police officer," said Nelson, who's been a strong supporter of the legislation each time it was introduced. It failed in two earlier incarnations, primarily because of legislative technicalities.

Senate Bill 80 moved quickly through the Legislature this year, with final passage by both houses completed by mid-June. It's expected to become law in time for the fall semester.

Sponsored by Sen. Harold Mowery, R-Cumberland, with support from 14 other senators including Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, the law would apply only to Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities.

Currently, police officers at those schools don't have the right under state law to show up at a bar in town where students are getting rowdy, for example, or to help with crowd control at a homecoming parade through town.

To make matters even more confusing -- but not atypical for Pennsylvania -- some state schools are surrounded by more than one municipality. And some of those small towns don't have their own police forces, necessitating a response from the closest state police barracks.

"We've sat on campus while they had to call state police for a bar fight," fumed Nelson.

And it gets more baffling. Nelson described a recent 911 call, made from a pay phone on campus, routed to Erie state police, then to Edinboro's local police, then back to campus.

Fortunately, Nelson said, it was only a prank call.

At other schools such as the University of Pittsburgh, campus police work side by side with local police to answer calls on campus as well as at student hangouts in town.

"We have a very good relationship with Pitt police," said acting Pittsburgh Police Chief Charles Moffatt.

But at some rural and suburban campuses across the state, the relationship between town and campus cops has been strained by finances, politics and ancient rivalries.

Those same tensions might keep the new law from being implemented in some places. The bill permits municipal and campus police to enter into agreements, but it doesn't mandate it.

In Shippensburg, home of a state university, longtime borough officer David Lively said he wasn't sure an agreement could be worked out.

"Our town fathers seem reluctant," he said.

Currently, some state campuses do operate under an "emergency aid agreement," meaning that in crises, campus police can respond off-campus and vice versa.

But the legislation calls for a mutual aid agreement that gives the police forces "concurrent jurisdiction."

Such an agreement would include allowing campus police officers involved in an on-campus pursuit to continue their chase even if it means leaving university boundaries. Currently, the law allows the chase to continue only if campus police have the culprits in clear sight, said Tom Gluck, a spokesman for the State System of Higher Education.

Gluck said he's optimistic that state schools and their municipalities will enter into agreements once the legislation is signed by the governor.

"My sense is that local governments are supportive," said Gluck. "This is one of the core issues of town-gown relationships."

In Pittsburgh, Moffatt said, the working relationship between city and campus police is essential.

"The good thing is that [campus police] know some of the those kids" who may be involved in problems off-campus, he said.

"You can't close your eyes to the fact that there's a large university situated in the heart of your city."