Officers' Reach Extends Beyond Campus

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   Some students at the University of Arkansas at Monticello seem to think that campus police officers do not have any authority off campus. More specifically, a number of students do not realize campus police have the authority to follow a vehicle off campus to make a traffic stop.

   "If we start the pursuit here on campus, we can follow you wherever you go," Sgt. Robert Thomason said.

   If a campus police officer is forced to chase a vehicle off campus, the driver could actually worsen the situation and receive a fleeing charge. According to Chief of Public Safety John Kidwell, all UAM campus police are state-commissioned officers, meaning they have full arrest authority all over the state of Arkansas though their jurisdiction is on-campus.

   "Their primary duty is here," Kidwell said, "but certainly if they're called for assistance by another agency, they'll go."

    Thomason remembers a number of incidences in which he was required to go off-campus to assist another police agency. In one of these incidences, he heard the Monticello Police dispatcher report a possibly intoxicated driver near the UAM campus. Since he was near the vehicle, Thomason pursued the suspect and ended up arresting him for driving while intoxicated.

   Thomason even remembers the Drew County sheriff calling him to assist a situation in McGehee.   
   "Everybody here has to be a certified police officer which means we receive the same training as Little Rock Police, Fayetteville Police, [and] any [other] certified police force," Thomason said.

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