Adopted at the 122nd Annual Conference
Chicago, Illinois
October 2015

Support for Authority of University/College Law Enforcement Agencies as the Primary Investigative Police Agency in Sexual Assault Investigations

Submitted by: University/College Police Section
UCP.004.t15

WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is the world's largest membership organization of police executives that provides the professional voice of law enforcement for numerous agencies including those on university and college campuses; and

WHEREAS, the impact of sexual violence and rape on university and college campuses affects the psychological and emotional well-being of victims and corrupts the safety and security of these communities; and

WHEREAS, university/college police departments are law enforcement agencies with official state powers and are bound by law to officially report all offenses to state crime reporting venues and prosecutors; and

WHEREAS, university/college police departments are held to a higher standard for the investigation of and response to sexual assaults by Title IX and the Clery Act than their state and municipal counterparts; and

WHEREAS, university/college police departments work closely with other campus support entities and are best positioned to provide a multi-disciplinary support network to the student victims; and

WHEREAS, both federal and state legislative bodies have considered or proposed legislation to remove some or all of the investigatory authority from university/college police departments regarding sexual assault investigations; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the IACP fully recognizes the critical role that university/college police departments fill on our college and university campuses; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the IACP fully supports that full-service sworn university/college police departments with trained sexual assault investigators should be the primary investigative agency for crimes that occur within their jurisdiction, including those involving sexual assault, and opposes any legislation mandating that outside agencies become the primary investigating agency in those cases, understanding the potential negative impact this could have on sexual assault survivors.