Attorney General Opinion JM-0219

JIM MA?TOX Attorney General Supreme Cowl Building P. 0. BOX 1254a Austin. TX. 78711. 25.9 51214752501 Telex QlolS74-1367 Telacooier 5121475-0266 714 Jackson. Suite 7W DaIhs. TX. 75202.4508 2141742-8944 4824 AIWRa Ave.. Suite 160 El Paso. TX. 799052793 91515333494 . I Texas. Suite 700 HO”SlO”. TX. 77OQ2.3111 713l2255886 EN Broadway, Suite 312 Lubbock. TX. 79401.3479 SOSi747.5238 4309 N. Tenth. Sutle S McAlle”. TX. 785ol.lS85 5121682.4547 203 Main Plaza. Suile CO Son Antonio. TX. 782052797 512/225-4191 The Attorney General of Texas 0::ober 24, 1984 Mr. Reymon L. Bynum Conrmissioner of Education Texas Education Age n :y 201 East 11th Street Austin, Texas 78731 Dear Mr. Bynum: Opinion No. m-219 RI?: Authority of peace officers commissioned by school districts You have askwl the following two questions regarding peace officers commissiowd by boards of trustees of independent echool districts: 1. What are the responsibilities of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education concerning such peace officers? 2. Do such peace officers . . . have all the powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers whenever they are in the performance of their official duties even when they are not on school property? ([For example, during the] hot pursuit of a person who has committed a crime on school p’roperty. the regulation of traffic on contiguous streets, and [the] investigation of crimes co:mnitted on school property.) You advise us that :he first question is prompted by the refusal of the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Staodards and Education to license putative Iwace officers commissioned pursuant to section 21.483 of the Education Code. This section provides as follow: The board of trustees of any school district may employ campus security personnel for the purpose of carryiag out the provisions of this subchapter and if the board of trustees authorizes any officer tc bear arma then they must connaission them as peace officers. Any officer comissioned under this section is vested with- all the powers. privilege,,, and immunities of pesce officers while on the pr,>perty under the control and jurisdiction of the dis,rrict or othervise in the performance of his dutic!ri. Any officer assigned to duty and commissiowd shall take and file the oath required Mr. Raymon L. Bynum - Page 2 m-219) of peace officers, aod ahall execute and file a good and sufficfent boad In the au0 of $1,000, payable to the board of trustees, vith two or more good and sufficient sureties, conditioned that he will fairly, impsrtlally. and faithfully perform all the duties that nay be required of him by law. The bond may be sued on from tima to time in the name of any person l.njured until the whole amount of the bond is wcovered. Any peace officer coaunissioned under this section must meet all minimum standards for peace officers established by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education within one year of his commission, or his commission shall automatically expire. The explicit language of’ section 21.483 establishes that: (1) a school district board of trustees may employ campus security personnel to carry out the provisions of subchapter H of chapter 21 of the Education Code; (2) campus .,wurity personnel commissioned as peace officers under section 21.483 possess “all the pavers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers ,rhile on the property under the control and jurisdiction of [their employing school] district or otherwise In the performance of [their] duties”; and (3) officers commissioned under section 21:483 must, within one year of their cowmission. meet all minimum standards for Ilesce officers established by the Texas Cosunission oo Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education [hereinafter TCLEOSE], or their commissions automatically expire. Section 6(c) of article 4413(29aa). V.T.C.S., provides that [n]o person who dowl oot have a license issued by the Commission [on Law Enforcement Standards and Education] shall be appointed as s peace officer. . . . Section 6(h) off the same statute provides: ‘Peace officer,’ 1 cr the purposes of this Act, means only a persor so designated by Article 2.12. Code of Criminal I’rocedure, 1965, or by Section 51.212 or ,5! .214, Texas Education Code. It has been suggested that csapus security personnel may not under any circumstances be regarded ac, “peace officers,” because they are not vithin either article 2.12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or sections 51.212 or 51.214 cmf the Education Code and are therefore ineligible to be licensed as peace officers under article 4413(29aa). We agree that campus tiecurity personnel commissioned as peace otficers under section 21.483 of the Education Code are not eligible p. 984 Mr. Raymon L. Byoum - Page 3 (JH-219) to be licensed aa “peace officers” by the commission under article 4413(29aa). The express language of sections 6(c) and 6(h) of article 4413(29aa) dictates this conclusion. This does not meao. however, that such personnel may not be designated as “peace officers” by a different statute. Section 6(h) of article 4413(29aa) provides only that “for purposes of this Act,” &, article 4413(29as), the term “peace off ice?’ --- includes only those persons so designated by the enumerated statutes; it dew not rule out the possibility that some other act may designate somwne as a “peace officer.” And this offlce haseld on severs1 occasions that a variety of statutes other than article 4413(29aa) designat,? certain individuals as “peace officers.” See, e.g., Attorney GeneraIL Opinion MU-54 (1979) and opinions cited therein. Section 21.483 expresrily designates as “peace officers” campus security personnel commissioned as such under that section, and this statute Is oo an equal footing with article 4413(29aa). When article 4413(29aa) and section 21.M are read together and harmonized. as they‘must be, Calvert v. Pwt Worth Nat&al Bank, 356 S.W.Zd- 918 (Tex. 1962). the conclusion inevitably follows that section 21.483 campus security personnel are peace officers who by the very terms of ‘section 21.483 must meet .1:11 TCLEOSE minimum standards within one year. Those standards include licensure by TCLEOSE. Of course, they enjoy their status as peace officers ouly in certain instances, i.e., “while on the property under the control and jurisdiction of the district or otherwise in t’w performance of [their] duties.” Educ. Code 521.483. In answer to your f::rst question, therefore, because campus security personnel commissioned as “peace officers” under section 21.483 of the Education Cods are not eligible to be “peace officers,” as defined by article 4413(29aa), the commission has oo licensing responsibility coecerning t’wse officers. Under the express terms of section 21.483, the boards of trustees of the school districts of this state, not the commission, have the discretion to decide whether to commission individuals as “peace officers” under that statute and the power to issue such commissions If they choose to do so. The boards of trustees must require that anyone commissioned as a “peace officer” under section 21.483 satisf:r the “minfmum standards for peace officers established by” the cowission, including medical, educational. testing. and other requirenents, within one year. The cocaaission in its discretion may consult with such boards .on the implementation of these standards. V.T.C.S. art. 4413(29aa), 12(a)(6). Your second question cannot be answered in the abstract. As noted, campus security personnel may be employed “for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of [subchapter M of chapter 21 of the Education Code] .‘I They are clothed with the powers. privileges, and immunities of peace officer:5 generally “while on the property under the control and jurisdict:cln of the district or otherwise in the performance of [their] duties.” Whether campus security personnel p. 985 Hr. Rsyaon L. Bynum - Page 4 (m-219) would be authorized to eagnge in the particular activities you describe is a fact question. The resolution of this question depend8 upon the scope of their duttes as defined by their employing school boards and vhether they maI’ be said to be “on property under the control and jurisdiction wf the district or otherwise in the performance of [their] duties;” vhen they engage in such activities. 2’ u n n A u Y The Texas Colnlission on Law Enforcement Standards has no licensing responsibility concerning “peace officers” commissioned under section 21.483 of the Texas Education Code. The scope of the pouczs of section 21.483 peace officers depends upon the nature and scope of their duties as defined by their employing school district boards of trustees and upon whether, when they engage in pclrticular activities. they are carrying out the Ilrovisions of subchapter M of chapter 2 of the Mucation Code and are “on the property under the control and jurisdiction of [their employing] district or [are] otherwise in the performance of Itheir] duties.” JIM MATTOX Attorney General of Texas TOM GREEN First Assistant Attorney General DAVID R. RICHARDS Executive Assistant Attorney General Prepared by Jon Bible Assistant Attorney General APPROVED: OPINION COMHITTEE Rick Gilpin, Chairman Jon Bible Susan Garrison Ann Kraatx Jim Moellinger Nancy Sutton Bruce Y oungb load I . p. 986