Campus Cops and other College Questions

Captcha · Jun 4, 2012

Set in the US, present day.

I have a story in which the main character is a rich, reckless university student, notorious for getting himself and his best friend in trouble. The setup is that the best friend is from a working class family, dependent on his scholarship, and the MC is thoughtless about that.

I want the two of them to get into enough trouble that the friend might lose his scholarship and the two of them might get kicked out of school, but not enough that they'd be in serious legal trouble (I want something that could really hurt the friend, but not be more than a nuisance for a rich kid who doesn't care about his education). Obviously low grades would do this, but I'd prefer something a bit more daring and dramatic.

Ideally, I'd like the book to open with the characters locked up because of whatever the incident was, but again, to not be facing serious criminal charges.

I'd prefer that it wasn't a carefully planned thing, like a prank - I think the friend would be able to talk the MC out of something if he had enough time. Would public drunkenness, maybe at a more-inappropriate-than-usual time, be enough to achieve the results I need? What about possession of a small quantity of drugs (type to be determined) - if the MC had them, and insisted that they were his, but he was in the friend's room, or something?

I went to school in Canada, so I don't really understand how strict US schools are on this stuff (well, I've read that if you play sports well enough, you can get away with a lot. But other than that...). I also don't really understand whether US campus cops are more 'real' than their Cdn counterparts - can campus cops lock people up? Do they press criminal charges? Would they be duty-bound to pass evidence of a crime along to city cops, or would they be more likely to cover up the students' wrongdoing?

Thanks for any help with this.

ETA: Also, is there any such thing as a suspension from a US university? I know about 'probation', but that would still involve the student being on campus and going to class, right? Is there ever a punishment where the student is kicked off campus for a week or something, then allowed to come back?

espresso5 · Jun 4, 2012

It depends on the school. In some schools, especially the midsized and small private schools, the school PD/security essentially runs interference with the local cops to protect the students from having anything on their permanent record. In other schools, the PD actually arrest students and process them/turn them over to the local cops.
At my school, the police generally protected the students. I had friends get drunk and steal golf carts and get caught driving them around campus, fail a sobriety test, and only have to spend a couple of weekends cleaning the campus, after which they received no mark on their permanent record.
I would guess two or three instances of drunkenness and petty larceny/vandalism would be sufficient to be expelled, but not get in any sort of permanent legal trouble.
Three or four instances of academic dishonesty might also manage to get someone expelled.

LoopyLinde · Jun 4, 2012

Captcha said:
I also don't really understand whether US campus cops are more 'real' than their Cdn counterparts - can campus cops lock people up? Do they press criminal charges? Would they be duty-bound to pass evidence of a crime along to city cops, or would they be more likely to cover up the students' wrongdoing?

I think this would depend on the university. The police at the University of Washington are real. It's a large school (the size of a small city in population), plus their jurisdiction covers a much larger area than just the main campus.

pandaponies · Jun 4, 2012

Smoking pot!

I go to a large, fairly prestigious university and am on a scholarship. I can lose it by
a) dropping below a C average
b) too many honor court violations / too severe of a violation (academic or behavioral).

It's more common - for something not TOO horrible like pot - for students to be put on probation and forced to attend an honor code class first here... THEN you get straight-up expelled. Just one violation probably wouldn't cause the loss of a scholarship, but it could certainly freak the MC out - I know I would be FREAKING. OUT. if I thought I were losing mine, since I am also from a working-class family and cannot afford college otherwise.

Pretty sure drugs-worse-than-pot get treated pretty seriously at my school. Alcohol, 99% of people turn a blind eye, though. This is one of the best schools in the country and some girls were having a birthday party in the dorms the night before I had an exam... SCREAMING laughing drunk, and lo and behold the RA was mysteriously nowhere to be found. I was displeased... but everyone expects a certain level of alcohol/partying in MOST schools, I think.

ETA - YES, there is suspension, but not for a week - more like a whole semester. You are forced to drop your classes for that semester and move out of the dorms.

ETA2 - After reading the post underneath mine, wanted to add - yes, our campus cops ARE "real" cops and can absolutely arrest for ex. illegal drug charges.

Trebor1415 · Jun 4, 2012

The myth is that all campus cops are not "real" cops. At many U.S. colleges and universities the campus cops have full police powers, carry guns, and do arrest people for committing crimes.

In this case the campus cops don't need to pass anything along to the "city cops" or other "real cops" because they ARE "real cops." The campus cops would instead pass the info along to the prosecutor (not the university) who would decide whether or not to actually prosecute for the crime.

They may still be some colleges with essentially "private security" cops who have limited powers, but I would bet those would be the smaller schools.

WeaselFire · Jun 5, 2012

Our local (Florida) universities have full police forces. A common off-campus event that could get you jailed, threatened with expulsion and not be too serious is underage drinking. On-campus is a bit different because they wouldn't face jail for many things.

There are very few "minor" offenses that will get you locked up. If you're jailed, it's serious. Alcohol can get you locked up for a period, the classic "drunk tank" approach, but minors (under 21) are usually released to parents or responsible parties.

Jeff

Mrs. de Winter · Jun 5, 2012

Many college campuses have real legit police forces. If the friend is on scholarship, you can make the terms of the scholarship be contingent on good behavior, so that public drunkeness or drug possession would have the scholarship revoked, though not necessarily get him kicked out of the school itself, if that makes sense. Academic dishonesty will also get you in serious trouble at most colleges--the rich kid could copy one of his friend's papers or something, which could get them both in hot water and endanger the friend's scholarship.

LJD · Jun 5, 2012

Plagiarism was the first thing that came to mind, but I'm not sure this is the kind of think you want.

It's not just the person who copies who gets in trouble...

ladyleeona · Jun 5, 2012

Captcha said:
Set in the US, present day.

I have a story in which the main character is a rich, reckless university student, notorious for getting himself and his best friend in trouble. The setup is that the best friend is from a working class family, dependent on his scholarship, and the MC is thoughtless about that.

I want the two of them to get into enough trouble that the friend might lose his scholarship and the two of them might get kicked out of school, but not enough that they'd be in serious legal trouble (I want something that could really hurt the friend, but not be more than a nuisance for a rich kid who doesn't care about his education). Obviously low grades would do this, but I'd prefer something a bit more daring and dramatic.

Ideally, I'd like the book to open with the characters locked up because of whatever the incident was, but again, to not be facing serious criminal charges.

I'd prefer that it wasn't a carefully planned thing, like a prank - I think the friend would be able to talk the MC out of something if he had enough time. Would public drunkenness, maybe at a more-inappropriate-than-usual time, be enough to achieve the results I need? What about possession of a small quantity of drugs (type to be determined) - if the MC had them, and insisted that they were his, but he was in the friend's room, or something?

I went to school in Canada, so I don't really understand how strict US schools are on this stuff (well, I've read that if you play sports well enough, you can get away with a lot. But other than that...). I also don't really understand whether US campus cops are more 'real' than their Cdn counterparts - can campus cops lock people up? Do they press criminal charges? Would they be duty-bound to pass evidence of a crime along to city cops, or would they be more likely to cover up the students' wrongdoing?

Thanks for any help with this.

ETA: Also, is there any such thing as a suspension from a US university? I know about 'probation', but that would still involve the student being on campus and going to class, right? Is there ever a punishment where the student is kicked off campus for a week or something, then allowed to come back?

As far as opening with a student locked up, I know that wouldn't be realistic in a model similar to my university's law enforcement system. Make no mistake about their legitimacy--our campus police have more jurisdiction than the city cops, have cruisers, carry AR15s--but they don't have holding cells. You do something that bad and they transfer you to the city jail. (Which, I realize now, you never said the MC needed to be in Uni jail or city jail.)

Campus cops are required to report crimes to other entities, but I'm not sure if there's a threshold of severity that determines such reporting. I know the campus cops at my university recently got in huge trouble for not reporting certain crimes. We (the uni) were fined to the tune of a million+ USD, but we deserved it—the unreported crimes were along the lines of rape.

Suspensions do occur, but they are for long time periods, like someone mentioned. I had a buddy who got suspended, and it was for 2 years (grades…he was a *great* student). University issued probations are, as far as I'm aware, strictly grade-related, and are a semester(s)-long thing. Definitely not a week long sort of thing.

If you’re looking for something daring, I’d go with vandalism of something on campus. That way it’s something directly affecting the university and the powers that be are more likely to A) know about the incident and B) be forced to react directly. Bye, bye, scholarship.

Captcha · Jun 5, 2012

Excellent information, guys! Thanks!

Orion11Bravo · Jun 5, 2012

The state school where I went, the cops started off as rent-a-cops, but then after a girl went missing and it got a lot of publicity, the PD took over (with guns and all), and it's been that way ever since. With the rent-a-cops, any transgression was handled in-house...with the PD, they could arrest you. So I agree, it depends on the school. As far as an incident that you are describing, something almost exactly like that happened to a friend of mine. The "rich kid", who was also a former Marine, and his friend got drunk, wandered campus, saw a UN flag hanging somewhere in (I believe) the campus center, and decided to express their ideologies by setting it on fire. The rich kid got off with a slap, his friend kicked out of ROTC and put on some kind of probation (he may have forfeited a semester, I don't remember...it happened a long time ago, and I heard it second hand).

PrincessofPersia · Jun 5, 2012

My university's police department is a "real" police department. They all went to the police academy, and they have statewide jurisdiction and all the peace officer powers the rest of the NJ cops have.

Sometimes they get bored on campus and go pull over speeders on the highway near the school. It's pretty funny to hear someone complain about a Rutgers cop giving them a ticket, like it's not a real ticket. Try telling that to the judge when they issue a warrant for failure to appear.

jaksen · Jun 6, 2012

Cheating. Being caught with a copy of a professor's test and answer key - before the exam is given. Maybe rich boy gets a hold of it and leaves it on working class boy's desk - or in his PC if the theft is PC-related. (Rich boy hacks into professor's account or PC.)

Not so hard to do actually. I know of kids who did this and when asked: 'Well he uses the same pw on everything. I stood behind him one day and watched his hands.'

Anyhow, enough to get kicked out if working class boy is caught with the goods.

But they wouldn't be thrown in jail unless they actually went into the professor's house or office to take the test. Otherwise, your story might start out with the two of them sitting outside the dean or college president's office.

Hey, and maybe rich boy wasn't after the test to begin with, just saw it and took it. Maybe he went into the professor's PC to read his emails because of...something, whatever.

I think I'm starting to write a story here.

Campus Cops and other College Questions

Captcha

espresso5

LoopyLinde

pandaponies

in ur boardz, correctin ur grammar

Trebor1415

practical experience, FTW

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

Mrs. de Winter

Eating cookies

LJD

ladyleeona

fluently sarcastic grandma offender

Captcha

Orion11Bravo

PrincessofPersia

jaksen

Caped Codder