(a) The President of the University of South Alabama may appoint and employ suitable persons to serve as police officers to keep off intruders and prevent trespass upon and damage to the property and grounds of the university. Such persons shall be charged with all the duties and invested with all the powers of police officers. An officer may eject trespassers from university buildings and grounds owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the university. An officer may arrest any person for any offense provided by law and shall transport the offender to the nearest district court or municipal court charged with the trial of such offense.
(b) The police officers provided for in this section shall cooperate with and, when requested, furnish assistance to the regularly constituted authorities of the Municipalities of Mobile and Fairhope, and their jurisdiction and authority shall be coextensive within the police jurisdictions of those municipalities.
(c) Any police officer appointed pursuant to this section or Section 16-22-1, is a peace officer whose authority extends to any place in the state. The primary duty of the police officer shall be the enforcement of the law on property owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the university. A police officer may not otherwise act as a peace officer in enforcing the law except:
(1) When in pursuit of any offender or suspected offender who is charged with the commission of a crime while on the premises of the institution.
(2) To make arrests otherwise lawfully for crimes committed, or for which there is probable cause to believe have been committed, within his or her presence or within the boundaries of property owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the institution.
(d) The provisions of this section or Section 16-22-1, granting authority to a police officer at this institution of higher education, are not intended to limit or abridge any powers heretofore granted to police officers by law, and this section is to be considered cumulative.
(e) Nothing in this section shall grant authority to any person appointed under this section to enter a classroom for the purpose of enforcing traffic or parking citations.
Last modified: May 3, 2021