Calling all State Capitol Police

[spso]

How did your State Capitol Police Post or department get stated?

I'm presently a Officer with a State Capitol Post and we are looking for some info on what routes to take to get more enforcement powers.

The problem we do alot of island hoping from one state property to another.
We do have a many complex including the Capitol. In that area we have enforcement powers, except the motor vehicle code enforcement.
The other problems is if we have to go arrest somebody on own warrant and they live a block or a mile from our Post we have to call a Trooper and that even goes if we want to go talk to a suspect on a case/complaint we go through the same run around.

The Post that I work for has been around for 35yrs and in the last 10years there has been many attemps to do something, but different parts of the higher ups keep kicking it out the door.

Some of the things we can do and have done
Reckless driving -State Property ownly
Handicap
OUIL
Larceny
CSC
fire alarms
panic alarms
juveniles -skateboarders and stunt bikes
MDOP
Stalking
MDOP

Any suggestion.

[L-1]

Before it merged with CHP in 1995, the California State Police performed some of the same duties as you agency. It too, had similar problems.

1. Through island hopping, uniform patrol officers operating marked units spent around 70% of their time patrolling city and county jurisdictions, resulting in their encountering numerous violations that fell outside the scope of their primary responsibility.

2. Few people actually live on state property. Therefore, unless a suspect is arrested during the commission of a crime, it was usually necessary to affect arrests off of state property.

3. Similarly, many crimes begin on state property but finish elsewhere, creating problems of overlapping jurisdiction

4. Criminals do not differentiate between state property and non-state property and move freely between the two in committing crimes. When state facilities are located in high crime areas, this makes it essential to address quality of life issues that occur adjacent to the property, in order to ensure safety of the facility and its occupants Examples of such crimes include abandoned vehicles, drug sales, prostitution, public intoxication, etc.

5 If a state employee is robbed while walking from their state office to the state parking lot across the street, refusing to assist them because the crime occurred one foot off of state property on the public street or sidewalk is absurd and a PR disaster just waiting to happen.

To address these issues, the California Legislature enacted the following section of the Penal Code:

830.2. The following persons are peace officers whose authority extends to any place in the state:

(b) Any member of the California State Police Division, provided that the primary duty of the peace officer shall be to provide police services for the protection of state officers, and the protection of state properties and occupants thereof, as set forth in the Government Code.

This law did a number of things. First, it gave the CSP a "primary" mission rather than an exclusive one This granted them the latitude to handle other matters as necessary while still reminding it of what it's main function was. In addition, rather than restrict it to crimes on state property, the law said their mission was the "protection" of state property, employees and officers, granting the CSP jurisdiction to handle any crime that endangered these groups, irrespective of where the crime occurred. It also gave them general peace officer authority anywhere in the state, to avoid the embarrassing experience of being powerless to act when a crime occurs in their presence but off state property

With respect to unrelated crimes encountered off state property, CSP officers simply took what steps were necessary to stabilize the situation until the locals could take it over.

[spso]

There are many problems we have. One is we drive a fully marked patrol car with a shield on it. The car has lights on it like a slick top, no bubble on top. We also have a State radio(our own) and city radio. The biggest thing that separates us from the Troopers and MCD is on the side a rearend is the saying "State Properties Patrol"
But, people don't even think of that when things go side ways.

Since I have been assigned here I have assisted on accidents,OUILS and traffic stops.

All the officers I work with have all the training (State Police Academy), But when we is when have gone to the Dept or to our Lt's and lay it out to them, and the problems we have they say look the other why or do something.
Then they turn around a say what does your job description say that you can do or if want to be Troop go back to Troop school.
What I like to tell them is "I would if they would run one or have the MONEY"(MI)

L-1 we can't even do stuff with abandoned vehicles or bikes on property that crosses or co-insides with ours.

The only thing we might have a chance on is getting on a Bill that our Motor Carriers are working on presently(H.B4321). Their having the same problem NOT CERTIFIED, but doing a Law enforcement job.

We don't want to be TROOPERS, but give us the TOOLS TO DO OUR JOB, that all we ask for.

[L-1]

First, a question:

Is your agency a Department of it's own, or is it a Division of another Department such as a General Services Agency?

[spso]

We are apart of MSP, theres not enough of us to call us a division of MSP so we just say we are section that pertains to any law enforcement that has to be done on State Property or to do with State Properties.

[L-1]

If you are part of MSP, are folks in your assignment working in a different job class (pay, benefits, etc.) than regular road patrol troopers?

[spso]

We are not in the same Union as Troopers or pay they have a 25 and out. We are in the same union and have the same benies as the MC, but different pay about a three to four dollar differance.
We do partol, but not the highways, it's all city. We most drive to one Property to another, we pretty much work in 5 mile area. We also have a Bike team that I am Memeber of.

Pretty much what I'm looking for is how did other Capitol Security become Capitol Police, Funding ect. All of us down here have all went through the State Police Recruit School.
The senior Officers went throught a 15 week school and then some of us like myself went through a 20 week school, and we all had to live there during our schooling.

[Landric]

The North Carolina Capitol Police just had their jurisdiction extended by the state legislature. It used to be all state property and anywhere in the state when on official business and with government officials (official security functions). They still have the same authority, but now also have jurisdiction anywhere inside I-440, which a beltway that runs around Raleigh. That gives them jurisdiction in pretty much all the area they normally have to drive through to get to various state property in Raleigh. I see them all the time on traffic stops and such now.

[L-1]

We are not in the same Union as Troopers or pay they have a 25 and out. We are in the same union and have the same benies as the MC, but different pay about a three to four dollar differance.
We do partol, but not the highways, it's all city. We most drive to one Property to another, we pretty much work in 5 mile area. We also have a Bike team that I am Memeber of.

Pretty much what I'm looking for is how did other Capitol Security become Capitol Police, Funding ect. All of us down here have all went through the State Police Recruit School.
The senior Officers went throught a 15 week school and then some of us like myself went through a 20 week school, and we all had to live there during our schooling.

Based on what you've told me, I don't see that you have much of a chance of improving things for folks in your Post.

The creation of civil service classifications and granting of peace officer authority is something done by your Legislature. Absent a scandal that mandates a major housecleaning, the Legislature usually acts in this area only at the request pf the Department or Troopers' Union. Now, your union can lobby the Legislature for change but for as long as your Department and the Troopers' Union oppose it, things will go nowhere

In short, you are working in a lower paying job class with limited authority, solely because that's the way the Department and the Troopers' Union want it and the Legislature apparently concurs. This is not going to change.

Sadly, the advice your Lieutenant gave you seems very sound. If you have difficulty working within these constraints, you need to look elsewhere for a job with full police authority and functions.

[spso]

L-1, We have a Union meeting with our Union and our lobbist and they advised that our Motor carrier Div did write thier Reps and one of the Reps did bring a bill to Ceritified MCD, BILL 4321.
The worst thing about that hole thing is they kinda off forgot about thier brother and sister(US). So we contacted the Union and advise them about that hole bad deal. Now thier triing to get things right.

[L-1]

You also have to consider the possibility that the Motor Carriers didn't "forget" your group, but intentionally excluded you from their bill.

As I said before, your post is operating under these conditions because most likely, that is what your agency and the troopers union wants. (Remember, the troopers union is bigger and more politically powerful than your own union or that of the Motor Carriers.)

With this in mind, if the Motor Carriers want to lobby to better their working conditions, it is going to be an uphill battle and it's in their best interests to exclude your issues. Otherwise they will be fighting a battle on two fronts instead of one. If they are told that politically, only one issue will be granted, they will be faced with the decision of dropping your issues from the bill so their needs will prevail (and selling your group out in the process) or to keep your issues on the bill and have both group's efforts fail In such circumstances it's more convenient to "forget" to include the other group.

Welcome to politics.

[PhilipCal]

State Capitol Police

The solution is for the Michigan Legislature to grant you full state wide police powers, over both criminal and traffic laws. In that regard, read the very real considerations raised by L-1. In Alabama, the Capitol Police Unit is a component of the Alabama Dept of Public Safety. It is contained within the Protective Services Division of the department. It is fully interchangeable with Highway Patrol and other divisions of the department. Officers assigned to the Capitol Police Unit are expected to fully enforce all traffic and criminal laws of the state. They are fully empowered to do so.