When University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing was charged with murder today for shooting Samuel DuBose during a traffic stop, the prosecutor in the case had harsh words for university police in general.
“I don’t think a university should be in the policing business,” said Joe Deters, the Hamilton County prosecutor, saying he thinks the city should handle it.
But nearly all universities are in the policing business. Almost all four-year colleges with more than 2,500 students had their own law enforcement agency during the 2011-’12 academic year, according to a survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Most of those officers can carry and use guns. In some cases, they have jurisdiction outside campus boundaries for traffic stops, such as the stop that ended with DuBose’s murder on July 19.