Item 4: Adoption of An Ordinance Concerning Citation Authority of University of Oregon Department of Public Safety

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officers to use probable cause to investigate reports of certain criminal behavior and issue citations based upon probable cause would eliminate the need to call the EPD simply to issue a citation. One goal of expanding the UODPS citation authority in 2009, was to lessen the impact on the City to investigate low-level crimes occurring on campus properties or properties under university control. After a year of successful implementation of Ordinance No. 20443, both the UODPS and the Eugene Police have noted that without granting the authority to arrest on probable cause this goal cannot be fully realized. Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 352.385 already grants commissioned public safety officers, such as UODPS public safety officers, the authority to issue citations basedon probable cause, but as it is now written, EC 4.035 does not grant this authority for violations or crimes in the Eugene Code. An example of a common situation where UODPS and EPD would benefit from the change in citation authority to include arrests on probable cause would be a case where UODPS receives a report of a stolen laptop computer. The UODPS is notified by the University when a reported stolen computer is accessing the University network and the location is pin-pointed on campus. Officers from UODPS contact the person using the stolen computer on campus in the Erb Memorial Union (EMU), and after interviewing the subject, learn the individual actually stole the computer. Even though UODPS did not witness the actual theft, they developed probable cause to believe the suspect did take the computer by the subject admitting to the crime and also by the subject being in possession of the stolen computer. As the ordinance stands now, after performing all of these steps, UODPS officers would still need to contact EPD, explain the probable cause for the offense, and then have the EPD officer come to the University to issue the citation. This is a duplication of scarce public resources. Citation Data From January 1, 2010, through October 5, 2010, the UODPS issued 386 citations; 155 of the total were for Minor in Possession of Alcohol, 65 for Possession of Less than One Ounce of Marijuana, and 50 for Consumption of Alcohol on an Unlicensed Premises. Please see Attachment “B” for a statistical report of violations and crimes addressed by the UODPS through their citation authority. It should be noted that this amendment to EC 4.035 only gives UODPS officers the authority to issue citations for crimes; they will not be transporting and lodging offenders. Quick Triple Bottom Line Review When the proposal to amend the Eugene Code to give UODPS the authority to issue citations based upon probable cause is viewed through a quick triple bottom line analysis, these impacts are recognized:  Environmental health is addressed when unnecessary gasoline consumption and extra vehicle trips to the University of Oregon campus are eliminated. If the proposed amendment to EC 4.035 is adopted by the council, in those cases where UODPS can cite individuals through probable cause, EPD will not be required to join the UODPS officers for what is essentially a paper work function.  The primary economic benefit to the Eugene community and Oregon taxpayers to be gained through the proposed amendment will be the elimination of duplicated workload. UODPS is able to perform the function of investigating and charging individuals for a crime without an EPD officer needing to come along behind and duplicate the work already done.  The primary social equity benefit is the increased ability of UODPS to provide policing that is culturally aligned with the campus community. Some differences in the priority of crime responses are culturally-based, for example the laptop theft discussed above would not reach the level of priority of response for an EPD detective due to the dollar threshold for EPD Z:\CMO\2010 Council Agendas\M101108\S1011084.doc