The Eugene City Council heard statements regarding the proposed changes to a city ordinance that would allow for the University’s Department of Public Safety to detain people whom they suspect are involved in minor crimes.
DPS, along with its Eugene Police Department partners, are seeking to alter a Eugene city ordinance, which would allow them to detain suspects on campus in instances where DPS officers ascertain probable cause against suspects on property owned or leased by the University.
The law currently states that DPS can only hold suspects where officers actually observed the suspect committing a crime. In cases of probable cause, they must contact EPD to hold a suspect or make an arrest.
The Eugene City Council heard statements from DPS officials on Monday night about amending portions of section 4.035 of Eugene Code 1971. DPS Assistant Chief Carolyn McDermed spoke to council members and Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy for approximately five minutes at the Eugene City Council Chambers at about 7:40 p.m.
In her prepared statement, McDermed cited reasons why DPS was seeking additional authority in regards to probable cause incidents.
“This amendment to Eugene Code 4.035 would allow further time saving, as UO DPS officers would be able to conduct investigations of lower level quality of life crimes, develop probable cause for arrest and issue citations for the crimes independently of city police,” McDermed said. “This would be particularly effective for cases of theft such as bicycles, laptops and iPods.”
The council did not vote on the amendment, but DPS and EPD officials said they believed the amendment would be passed at a later date.
“Basically this eliminates a lot of repetition,” DPS Chief Doug Tripp said. “DPS can conduct its own investigations without representatives from EPD coming over and repeating a lot of the same steps.”
EPD Chief Pete Kerns remains positive that the city council will vote for the proposed amendments.
“I don’t know why it wouldn’t go forward,” Kerns said. “We could go on for generations with no further power than this.”   
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