The Oregon University System has released a fiscal impact statement for the potential passage of State Bill 116 and the likely implementation of the University’s Campus Policing Initiative that would follow.
The fiscal impact statement indicates that the passage of SB 116, which would allow for the transition of the Department of Public Safety into a sworn police agency, would have a minimal financial impact on the University. The document even indicated that over a six-year transition period after the implementation of such a plan would actually cost the University less money than continuing to operate its current DPS unchanged.
This financial impact statement only applies to SB 116. Another bill, State Bill 405, which contains many of the same provisions as SB 116, was not taken into account for this impact statement. University Assistant Vice President for Administration Brian Smith said the OUS has received the University’s projected impact costs for SB 405, but that the OUS had not yet published these findings.
Both Smith and University Vice President for Finance and Administration Frances Dyke have said the University is the only school in the OUS that has indicated that it would like to move forward with establishing a sworn campus police in the short term. As a result the only numbers provided to the OUS for its fiscal impact statement were provided by the University.
Although SB 116 and SB 405 are similar in scope, one key difference does exist between how the bills treat benefits under Oregon’s Public Employment Retirement System. SB 116 does not allow for members of a future campus police agency to receive full police and fire PERS benefits; however, SB 405, for which the fiscal impact data has not been released, does include police and fire PERS benefits. However, Smith said he would not anticipate there being any significant change in the cost associated with the University providing police and fire PERS benefits to its police officers under SB 405.
Smith also said that under the University’s current plan, it would like to have 26 sworn police officers on a proposed future campus police agency by 2017. Under the fiscal impact statement there would be five sworn officers, likely pulled from pre-existing DPS personnel within one year of the bills. The University would add five more sworn officers for a total of 10 by 2013. Although he said the amount was miniscule, in the larger scheme of a six-year budget, Smith said the University could save $73,000 over the course of the next six years in switching to a sworn agency.
Some of this reduced cost can be attributed to improved officer retention and the premise that Oregon’s Department of Public Safety standards and training would be financially responsible for the training of any future campus police officers. According to the impact statement, these savings would more than offset the cost of new equipment for sworn officers. If SB 116 and SB 405 were to clear the legislature, they would still have to be signed into law by the governor and then as the legislation is only enabling, would still have to be adopted by the OUS and the University. Both bills include provisions allowing for sworn campus police officers, like other Oregon police agencies, to carry firearms and Tasers that would go along with the mandatory training necessary to become a sworn police officer in the state of Oregon. Many universities already have sworn agencies on their campuses, and the University, along with Oregon State University, are the only two universities in the current Pac-10 conference to lack sworn and armed agencies.
The University plans on holding a town hall meeting on the topic of a sworn police agency on campus on Wednesday in the EMU Fir Room from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Dean of Students Paul Shang, DPS Chief Doug Tripp and Dyke are all slated to attend. A similar Q-and-A session on the same topic was held at the Mills International Center last Friday.
At least one student group has said it plans on attending the meeting in order to oppose the campus policing initiative. Sam Chapman of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Group said the group would host an open meeting at the Lorax Manner cooperative tonight at 7 p.m. to organize around their own anti-Campus Policing Initiative agenda.
Chapman said his group also plans on attending the Wednesday town hall meeting in order to counteract what he perceives as an attempt by the University to force a policy on campus without the knowledge of students.
“It seems that the University is trying to slip this one under the door without anyone noticing,” Chapman said. “We’re going to try and get as many people as we can out to the meeting on Wednesday and ask some questions that I don’t think anyone has asked, we’re going to let them know that we noticed.”
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Armed campus police department expenses revealed
Daily Emerald
January 31, 2011
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