NY State Senate Bill 2011-S610

Senate Bill S610

2011-2012 Legislative Session

Directs the trustees of the state university to appoint a commissioner of state university police

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 04, 2012	referred to higher education
Jan 05, 2011	referred to higher education

co-Sponsors

2011-S610 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Higher Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §355, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2009-2010 Legislative Session:: S6928

2011-S610 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Directs the trustees of the state university to appoint a commissioner of state university police, who shall be the supervisory and administrative head of all university police forces; prohibits any further appointments of police chiefs of campus police forces.

2011-S610 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S610

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the education law, in relation to directing the state
university trustees to appoint a commissioner of state university police

PURPOSE:
The bill improves the administration and professionalism of the public
safety agencies that serve and protect the campuses and facilities of
the State university of New York, ensures standard training and
equipment for each such agency and effects significant cost savings
for system wide public safety services.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill lays out the legislative intent to create a more
rational and effective system of administration for campus police
forces at the state university of New York.

Section 2 of the bill amends Education Law section 355(2) (1) by
adding new language directing the Trustees of the State University of
New York to appoint a Commissioner of State University Police who
shall have full administrative authority over the campus police
agencies on all SUNY campuses.

Section 2 of the bill provides that it shall take effect on the first

day of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become
a law.

JUSTIFICATION:
The men and women of the State university Police serve and protect a
community of half a million students, faculty, administration and
other employees and a statewide infrastructure of research and
technological facilities worth many billions of dollars. This system
is crucial to the global competitiveness and future prosperity of the
state and people of New York. It is imperative and much in the public
interest that members of those campus police forces be given
leadership and direction commensurate with their responsibility to
provide the level of service this world class university system
requires.

As currently administered, police services to the campuses of the SUNY
system are operated under a decentralized structure. Each of the
twenty-eight campuses currently maintaining a police force operate
under its own policies, procedures, practices, budgets, resources and
levels of efficiency and preparedness. Some are, as a result,
inadequately equipped and trained and unable to put the number of
boots-on-the-ground that is required to police a large and populous
campus community.
Certainly, capability to respond to instances of violent situations and
disasters is unacceptably uneven among campuses.

SUNY Systems Administration currently maintains the position of
Assistant Vice Chancellor of University Police and Director of Public
Safety.
This position is of an advisory nature and cannot mandate specific or


standard policy or procedure applicable to all campus police
departments including such basic and critical matters as staffing,
arming, equipping, training, allocation of resources and critical
incident response preparedness. This structure is inefficient both in
carrying out the State University's obligation to provide for public
safety and to do so in the most administratively efficient and
fiscally responsible manner possible.

This legislation will centralize and streamline the administration of
the currently existing twenty-eight campus police agencies and save
the state an initial $3 million a year. The reorganization would
place responsibility for administering a system-wide force of 500
Police Officers, Police Investigators and Police Supervisors with a
SUNY Police Commissioner qualified by background, training and
experience and appointed by the Trustees. This will provide for a
State University Police to be operated in a centralized, paramilitary
format with designated rank structures and a centralized chain of
command.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2010 - S.6928B - Referred to Higher Education; Passed Senate

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Centralizing the administration of twenty-eight SUNY Campus Police
Forces will reduce costs and realize savings through standardization
affecting many expenses for equipment, training and so forth. It is
estimated that the bill will realize a savings of $3 million a year.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
The first day of January next succeeding the date on which it shall
have become law.

2011-S610 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                   610

                       2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 5, 2011
                               ___________

Introduced by Sens. KLEIN, STAVISKY, MAZIARZ, SAVINO, STEWART-COUSINS --
  read  twice  and  ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
  the Committee on Higher Education

AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to  directing  the  state
  university  trustees  to  appoint  a  commissioner of state university
  police

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Legislative  intent.  The  legislature  hereby  finds and
declares that maintaining a safe environment for individuals studying on
the campuses of the state university of New York is of  critical  impor-
tance, and that a well trained and well organized campus police force is
vital to ensure that safety. The legislature also finds that the current
structure  of the campus police force at the state university is ineffi-
cient, subject to  an  excessive  and  unpredictable  management  salary
structure, and does not ensure an equal level of security and protection
at  the  many  campuses  across  the state. The intent of this act is to
create a system of police organization  at  the  state  university  that
borrows  the  lessons learned by other successful police forces, such as
the state parks police, and creates a unified and clear  rank  and  file
and  command  structure  that  empowers individuals with law enforcement
experience to make decisions  based  on  good  policing  practices.  The
legislature acknowledges the individual character and physical layout of
each  campus  and finds that it is possible for a central police command
to manage diverse campus needs. The legislature urges the chancellor and
the board of trustees of the state university of New York to take  steps
to  create  a more systematic police rank and file and command structure
at the various campus police forces and to make better use of the inval-
uable experience that campus police officers gain as they  get  to  know
their own individual campus needs.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                           LBD01838-01-1

S. 610                              2

  S 2. Paragraph l of subdivision 2 of section 355 of the education law,
as  amended  by  chapter  424 of the laws of 1998, is amended to read as
follows:
  l.  To appoint university police officers who shall have the powers of
police  officers  and  to  remove  such  police  officers  at  pleasure;
provided,  however, that any person appointed a police officer must have
satisfactorily completed or complete within one year of the date of  his
OR  HER appointment a course of law enforcement training approved by the
municipal police training council in consultation with  the  university.
It  shall  be the duty of such police officers to preserve law and order
on the campuses and other property  of  the  university,  including  any
portion  of  a public highway which crosses or abuts such property.  THE
TRUSTEES SHALL APPOINT A COMMISSIONER OF STATE  UNIVERSITY  POLICE  WELL
QUALIFIED  BY  BACKGROUND,  TRAINING  AND EXPERIENCE, WHO SHALL EXERCISE
SUPERVISION AND ADMINISTRATION OF ALL UNIVERSITY POLICE  FORCES  FROM  A
CENTRAL OFFICE.  NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, THERE SHALL
BE  NO FURTHER APPOINTMENTS TO THE POSITION OF POLICE CHIEF OF A UNIVER-
SITY POLICE FORCE AT ANY COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
  Subject to the approval of  the  chancellor,  the  president  of  each
state-operated campus of the state university shall enter into a written
agreement with adjoining law enforcement agencies establishing protocols
for the exercise of authority by such university police officer off-cam-
pus,  including  mutual aid and assistance. Such written protocols shall
not be deemed to supersede the authority of other police officers.   The
provisions  of this paragraph shall not apply to any of the state insti-
tutions and property referred to in section five thousand seven  hundred
nine of this chapter.
  S  3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S610

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Jeffrey D. Klein

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education Committee

co-Sponsors

Toby Ann Stavisky

George D. Maziarz

Diane J. Savino

Andrea Stewart-Cousins

2011-S610 (ACTIVE) - Details

2011-S610 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2011-S610 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2011-S610 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments