University at Albany and City of Albany Memorandum of (Lack of) Understanding for law enforcement purposes

The transferring of one of the 911 calls in the bus case was not too bad, but the other was definitely problematic. The relatively lengthy attempts to work out who had jurisdiction were inexcusable (not helped by the caller). Jurisdictional matters and any relationship between UAlbany and CDTA were discussed somewhat by Pres Jones in his Press Conference. He seemed baffled at the suggestion that something could be done to improve things.

HALEY VICCARO, SCHENECTADY GAZETTE: Do you plan to work with CDTA in the future to ensure that if any sort of incident comes up that maybe you'd be able to come up with a way to handle it while it's ongoing on a bus?

PRES. JONES: I'm not exactly sure how that would work. The bus runs on our campus only for a short time period. We have no jurisdiction once the bus gets on city streets. We have, uh, I think our police chief has had conversations with the CDTA about, uh, you know, if there have been any incident or, uh, issues on these buses that we need to be concerned about, so that was our first response was to try to talk to CDTA to see what may have previously occurred that we need to be concerned about, and I know that’s kind of an ongoing part of our due diligence to, uh, to make sure the buses are safe and [advice?] and I’ve said, uh, you know, the bus is an important part of our mechanism for getting students back and forth and, uh, as far as we know, they are safe form of transportation.

Firstly, despite President Jones saying "we have no jurisdiction once the bus gets on city streets" that doesn't seem to be true. SUNY Police have their jurisdiction defined by N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law section 1.20 (34-a) (d):

The geographical area of employment of a police officer appointed by the state university is the campuses and other property of the state university, including any portion of a public highway which crosses or abuts such property.

As such, UPD would seem to have shared jurisdiction over portions of Fuller Road, Washington Avenue, Western Avenue, Washington Avenue, etc.

Furthermore, I think, among other things, that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the University at Albany and City of Albany regarding law enforcement could potentially be revised to address jurisdictional matters and perhaps also the relationship with CDTA (or else a separate MOU including CDTA) to improve matters.

The last version of the MOU that I’ve seen can be read at https://d3gn0r3afghep.cloudfront.net/foia_files/6-27-13_MR4811_RES.pdf and https://muckrock.s3.amazonaws.com/foia_files/APD_MOU_2009.pdf It begins,

This Memorandum of Understanding, effective November 1, 2008, entered into by and between the City of Albany on behalf of its Police Department and the State University of New York, on behalf of the University at Albany, namely the University at Albany Police Department, sets out the respective duties and obligations with regard to the coordination of law enforcement efforts between the University at Albany Police Department and the City Police Department.

It was signed by former President Philip, former Mayor Jennings, and former APD Chief James Tuffey, so if it hasn’t been revised then President Jones has been grossly negligent in his role as President:

The campus president has the authority and responsibility for the overall operation and security of the campus. Accordingly, the president, or his designee, through the chief of university police, administers the operations of the University Police Department.

https://www.suny.edu/sunypp/docs/364.pdf

Subject to the approval of the chancellor, the president of each state-operated campus of the state university shall enter into a written agreement with adjoining law enforcement agencies establishing protocols for the exercise of authority by such university police officer off-campus, including mutual aid and assistance. Such written protocols shall not be deemed to supersede the authority of other police officers.

N.Y. EDUC. LAW § 355 (2) (l) [lowercase L]

Chief James Tuffey resigned in 2009. A new agreement might have been a good idea at that time, but certainly after both the City of Albany Mayor and University at Albany President both changed.

Despite there being a MOU that became active in 2008, the UAlbany Emergency Management plan dated July 2015 and which contains a Letter of Promulgation signed by President Robert J. Jones inexplicably contains what appears to be a copy of a Memorandum of Understanding between UAlbany and the City of Albany from January 1, 1999 (possibly signed in late 1998?) rather than the 2008 or any more recent MOU. It begins,

This Memorandum of Understanding, effective January 1, 1999, entered into and between the City of Albany Police Department and the State University of New York, University at Albany Police Department, sets out the respective duties and obligations with regard to the coordination of law enforcement efforts between the University at Albany Police Department and the City Police Department. http://www.albany.edu/ehs/pdf/UAlbanyEmergencyManagementPlan.pdf

The City of Albany Chief in 1998 or January 1, 1999 was possibly Kevin Tuffey; the signature is not included in the Emergency Management Plan. At any rate, not by the man who’s City of Albany Chief in 2015, nor by the current Mayor or President. Why? In President Jones' Letter of Promulgation in the 2015 Emergency Management Plan, he stated,

this Plan is a Guide to the University for Emergency Management and coordination of all phases of emergency management operations, in order to minimize the impact of emergencies and disasters, and to protect the people, property, and restore the ability of the University to serve our mission.

How exactly is a plan with a Memorandum of Understanding from seventeen years ago likely to serve the university or the city well?