The Virginia State Crime Commission spent months trying to determine if rapes and murders on the state’s college campuses should be taken out of the hands of university police departments and turned over to local law enforcement instead. The commission is scheduled to present its findings at a Nov. 16 hearing, but for now it has ignited a debate over the proposed legislation — a bill known as Kathryn’s Law — and over whether university police forces are competent enough to handle complex investigations.
Kathryn’s Law, first proposed in the General Assembly in January by Del. Paula Miller, D-Norfolk, would require Virginia colleges to report any alleged rape or death on campus to local law enforcement agencies, which would then “assume responsibility for leading the investigation.” Lawmakers referred the bill to the crime commission for evaluation and could revisit the measure in January.
The bill was inspired by former University of Virginia student Kathryn Russell’s 2004 sexual assault case. Miller is among those contending that a university investigation into Russell’s case had been poorly handled and shows that university police shouldn’t be investigating major crimes.
Kathryn’s Law is gathering support, notably from the parents of Morgan Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who was abducted and killed after a Metallica concert in Charlottesville in 2009.
“I think that there is an inherent conflict of interest in having crimes of this magnitude internally investigated,” said Gil Harrington, Morgan’s mother, who with her husband will testify at the crime commission’s hearing. “Students should be privy to the same level of investigative services and support as the communities where they reside.”
Coming to the defense of the university police are many of the local police departments that would be taking over their cases. University police aren’t to blame if an arrest doesn’t end in a conviction and are just as well-equipped as any municipal police force, local police said.
“Those [campus departments] are fully certified police departments,” said Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, which opposes the proposed law. “Local law enforcement agencies are not familiar with the student population, the facilities on campus. They don’t necessarily have the staffing to give a full blown investigation.”
George Mason University spokesman Dan Walsch said the school would comply with the law if passed, but that the school is “really proud” of its campus police force. A U.Va. spokeswoman had no comment on the proposed legislation.
