The Florida Senate

242.343  Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind campus police.--

(1)  The Board of Trustees for the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind is permitted and empowered to employ police officers for the school, who must be designated Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind campus police.

(2)  Each Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind campus police officer is a law enforcement officer of the state and a conservator of the peace who has the authority to arrest, in accordance with the laws of this state, any person for a violation of state law or applicable county or municipal ordinance if that violation occurs on or in any property or facilities of the school. A campus police officer may also arrest a person off campus for a violation committed on campus after a hot pursuit of that person which began on campus. A campus police officer shall have full authority to bear arms in the performance of the officer's duties and carry out a search pursuant to a search warrant on the campus. Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind campus police, upon request of the sheriff or local police authority, may serve subpoenas or other legal process and may make arrests of persons against whom arrest warrants have been issued or against whom charges have been made for violations of federal or state laws or county or municipal ordinances.

(3)  The campus police shall promptly deliver all persons arrested and charged with felonies to the sheriff of the county within which the school is located and all persons arrested and charged with misdemeanors to the applicable authority as provided by law, but otherwise to the sheriff of the county in which the school is located.

¹(4)  The campus police must meet the minimum standards established by the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission of the Department of Law Enforcement and chapter 943 for law enforcement officers. Each campus police officer must, before entering into the performance of the officer's duties, take the oath of office established by the board of trustees. The board of trustees may obtain and approve a bond on each campus police officer, conditioned upon the officer's faithful performance of the officer's duties, which bond must be payable to the Governor. The board of trustees may determine the amount of the bond. In determining the amount of the bond, the board may consider the amount of money or property likely to be in the custody of the officer at any one time. The board of trustees must provide a uniform set of identifying credentials to each campus police officer it employs.

(5)  In performance of any of the powers, duties, and functions authorized by law, campus police have the same rights, protections, and immunities afforded other law enforcement officers.

(6)  The board of trustees shall adopt rules, including, without limitation, rules for the appointment, employment, and removal of campus police in accordance with the State Career Service System and shall establish in writing a policy manual, that includes, without limitation, procedures for managing routine law enforcement situations and emergency law enforcement situations. The board of trustees shall furnish a copy of the policy manual to each of the campus police officers it employs. A campus police officer appointed by the board of trustees must have completed the training required by the school in the special needs and proper procedures for dealing with students served by the school.

History.--s. 25, ch. 94-232; s. 27, ch. 98-34.

¹Note.--Section 46, ch. 98-34, provides that "[t]he provisions of this act do not affect a cause of action that accrued before [July 1, 1998]."