GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The chancellor of a North Carolina university has cited an ongoing criminal investigation as the reason for why the school hasn’t released surveillance video footage of the on-campus beating of a black man by four white people ...

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RICHMOND, Va. – The client’s tale of woe begins with a traffic stop near a college campus. A driver had too much to drink, or an officer discovered illegal drugs. But wait, the client says. The traffic stop was made ...

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Ochsner v. Elon University Our Court of Appeals held that even though the Public Records Act applies to public law enforcement agencies, the Act defines “public law enforcement agency” to mean “a municipal police department, a county police department, a sheriff’s department, a company police agency commissioned by the Attorney General pursuant to G.S. 74E-1, et seq., and any State or local agency, force, department, or unit responsible for investigating, preventing, or solving violations of the law.” Since campus police departments are not in this list, we find that the General Assembly did not intend for campus police departments to be subject to the Act.

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North Carolina's Supreme Court is considering whether campus police at private colleges who are authorized to use the power of arrest must be as transparent as public agencies.

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Ochsner v. Elon University Even though the Public Records Act applies to public law enforcement agencies, the Act defines “public law enforcement agency” to mean “a municipal police department, a county police department, a sheriff’s department, a company police agency commissioned by the Attorney General pursuant to G.S. 74E-1, et seq., and any State or local agency, force, department, or unit responsible for investigating, preventing, or solving violations of the law.” Since campus police departments are not in this list, we find that the General Assembly did not intend for campus police departments to be subject to the Act.

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State v. Yencer The Campus Police Act’s provision of secular police protection for the benefit of the students, faculty, and staff of Davidson College, as applied to defendant’s conviction for driving while impaired, does not offend the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Defendant has failed to demonstrate that her arrest and conviction for driving while impaired were influenced by any consideration other than secular enforcement of a criminal statute, G.S. § 20-138.1.

Tagged with: Campus Police Constitutional Criminal Practice dwi First Amendment Freedom of Religion

It started out as a simple DWI arrest on the campus of Davidson College. Five years later, it's turned into a First Amendment case that could put into jeopardy the ability of many of North Carolina's private colleges and universities to have their own police forces. The case of State v. Yencer received coverage in the Chronicle of Higher Education, considered the paper of record in the world of higher education. Private college and university campuses in other states "are watching it very closely," said Hope Williams (pictured), president of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, an advocacy group for the state's 36 private post-secondary schools.

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By SYLVIA ADCOCK, Staff Writer [email protected] The N.C. Supreme Court last week agreed to stay the effects of a case involving Davidson College that raised questions about whether church-affiliated college campuses could have sworn police officers. The state Attorney General’s ...

Tagged with: Campus Police Davidson College First Amendment police Religion Universities

It's not every day that First Amendment issues get raised in a drunk-driving case. But last week the Court of Appeals threw out a DWI case involving an arrest by a Davidson College police officer, agreeing with the defense that Davidson is a religious institution and giving police powers to the school is unconstitutional. "We hold that the delegation of police power to Davidson College ... is an unconstitutional delegation of ‘an important discretionary governmental power' to a religious institution in the context of the First Amendment," Judge James A. Wynn Jr. wrote in a unanimous opinion before his departure to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Allen Brotherton, who represented the defendant, said he thinks the opinion should have an impact on the way campus police departments on all church-affiliated schools in the state operate.

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State v. Yencer. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-07-0815, 10 pp.) (James A. Wynn Jr., J.) Appealed from Mecklenburg County Superior Court (Jesse B. Caldwell III, J.) Holding: The state’s conveyance of police powers to campus police officers at Davidson College is ...

Tagged with: Campus Police Criminal Practice dwi First Amendment Mecklenburg County Universities