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CAUT Policies

Policy Statement Concerning the Role of Public and Private Police Forces and Security Services on Canadian University and College Campuses

1    Preamble

CAUT seeks to protect the rights of individual members of academic staff in their relations with their own institutions and with private and public organizations with which they come in contact in carrying out their responsibilities.

CAUT believes the activities of policing agencies and security services on post-secondary institution campuses can threaten academic freedom. Experience shows that this belief is warranted. Such activities can interfere with the rights of individual members of the academic staff and students, and can undermine institutions’ obligation to foster freedom of thought, expression and intellectual inquiry without restriction.


2     Policy Statement

2.1    Campus Police and Security Services

2.1.1
Where resources permit, rather than relying on private security services or public police services, a post-secondary institution should establish a security service, staffed by institution employees. Private policing agencies or security services should be given no status on campus unless they are employed by, retained by, or under contract to the post-secondary institution.

2.1.2
The post-secondary institution should establish a permanent committee, with membership drawn from all campus constituencies, to develop policies on the role of public police and campus security, and to monitor the implementation of these policies.

2.1.3
The primary responsibilities of a campus security service are to protect the lives and well-being of individuals on campus, to protect their property and the university’s and college’s property, to deliver programs that prevent or reduce risks to individuals or property on campus, and, generally, to enforce the Post-Secondary Institution rules and federal, provincial, and municipal laws on campus.

2.1.4
Members of a campus security service should have the education, background, and training that will permit them to carry out properly the duties assigned to them.

2.1.5
The actions of a campus security service must be respectful of and not constrain legitimate freedom of expression and assembly.

2.1.6
The relationships among the post-secondary institution, its campus security service, and public police agencies should be clearly established, particularly respecting:

    a)    on-campus events for which members of public police agencies provide policing services,
    b)    the coordination of campus security service and public police agency roles for on-campus offences, and
    c)    emergencies.

2.1.7
A campus security service should be responsible to a senior member of the university or college administration.

2.1.8
A campus security service should report annually to the security committee and to the governing academic body of the post-secondary institution, and give incident statistics.

2.1.9
The post-secondary institution should establish a process for adjudicating complaints respecting the conduct of members of its campus security service.

2.1.10
Policies should be established for a campus security service, at the appropriate levels of university or college governance, respecting the following matters:

    a)    use of force;
    b)    procedures and facilities for the reporting of offences or other emergencies;
    c)    responses to the reported offences or emergencies;
    d)    the security of campus facilities, including residences;
    e)    the promotion of prompt reporting of offences;
    f)    the establishment of linkages between the campus security service and other campus resources and services (for instance, counselling and student services, emergency response teams, foot patrols, parking services);
    g)    the provision of information to the campus community respecting threats to individuals or property;
    h)    the provision of educational programs to the campus community (for instance, concerning sexual offence prevention, the reporting of sexual offences, personal safety, and the protection of property); and
    i)    the collection and reporting of campus incident statistics.

2.1.11
In the absence of a campus security service, public police agencies and security services may provide policing for the campus, but the principles embodied in 2.1 must apply, and should be the subject of regular discussions between a publicly accountable post-secondary institution body on one hand and the outside provider on another.


2.2 Public Police Agencies and Security Services

2.2.1
Where a campus security service operates, public police agencies and security services should restrict their activities on post-secondary institution campuses to investigating specific alleged violations of the law, and performing such aspects of their official mandate as are agreed to by the institution, acting in accordance with the principles in this CAUT Policy Statement.

2.2.2
Such investigations or other activities should be drawn at the outset to the attention of the senior member of the post-secondary institution’s administration having responsibility in this area of policy and practice.

2.2.3
Police agencies and security services should not place or use informers on post-secondary institution campuses and should refrain from recruiting members of the academic staff and students as undercover agents or informers. This does not mean that members of the academic staff should not report criminal wrongdoing on campus when it comes to their attention, nor that members of the academic staff should evade their obligations to appear as witnesses in court proceedings.

2.2.4
If academic staff members are approached for information about colleagues or students in the course of pre-employment or security clearance inquiries, whether by policing agencies, security services, or others, they should be aware that cooperation with investigators is voluntary, but that the refusal to provide information may cost the student or colleague the job or position. Respondents should satisfy themselves of investigators’ credentials. If respondents agree to assist, they should provide information in writing only, and should have an opportunity to examine for accuracy a written record of information provided. They should request confirmation that the provisions of section 2.2.5 will be observed. CAUT countenances such activities only when they are not a surreptitious means to secure other information on campus or to recruit informants.

2.2.5
Academic staff members or students who are the subjects of pre-employment inquiries and related security clearances should be told by the agency conducting the inquiry of the inquiry and, subsequently, of the results of the investigation, unless such disclosure is prohibited by law.

2.2.6
Information on the interests, data use or borrowing patterns of library, archive, or internet users should not be released to police or security agencies. Release in response to court orders, subpoenas or warrants should occur only when all legal avenues to prevent release are exhausted. This applies to all records of access to information and to all records of the use of library resources.