Can a Texas university's campus police arrest someone for a traffic violation off campus or on a public street next to campus?

Texas AG Opinion JM-563: Campus Police Jurisdiction

Plain-English summary

The Erath County Attorney asked how far the arrest authority of Tarleton State University's campus police reaches. Can they arrest someone for a traffic violation they see off campus? Do the public streets running through or beside university land fall within their jurisdiction? The AG answered no to both. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Campus security officers are peace officers, but Education Code section 51.203 gives them their peace-officer powers only on property under the university's control or otherwise in the performance of their duties. The Court of Criminal Appeals had read the traffic statute broadly at one point, but it overruled that reading and held a campus officer was acting outside his jurisdiction when he tried to arrest someone for an off-campus traffic offense. So Tarleton officers cannot make peace-officer arrests for offenses committed outside their territory, though they keep the same citizen-arrest power anyone has for a felony or breach of the peace in their presence. As for the streets, the legislature gave campus police at a few named universities concurrent jurisdiction over adjacent public streets, but wrote no such statute for Tarleton, which the AG read as deliberate. So the public streets through or next to Tarleton land are not within the campus officers' jurisdiction. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1986. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Can a campus officer pull someone over for speeding just off campus?

Not as a peace officer. The AG concluded, following the Court of Criminal Appeals, that a campus officer acts outside his jurisdiction when he arrests for an off-campus traffic offense. His peace-officer authority is tied to university property under Education Code section 51.203, so an off-campus traffic stop is not within his official duties. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Do campus police have any power off campus at all?

Yes, but only the power any citizen has. The AG noted that campus officers, like everyone else, may arrest without a warrant for a felony or a breach of the peace committed in their presence or view. But making such an arrest can expose the officer to liability for false arrest or another tort if it is not proper. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Why don't the public streets running through campus count as university jurisdiction?

Because the legislature has to grant that authority, and it did not for Tarleton. Home-rule cities like Stephenville control their public streets and cannot delegate that control on their own; only the legislature can. It gave campus police concurrent jurisdiction over adjacent streets at universities such as North Texas State and Texas Woman's University, but not at Tarleton, which the AG read as an intent that no such jurisdiction exist there. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Does this mean campus police at other Texas universities have the same limits?

Not necessarily. The answer depends on whether the legislature passed a concurrent-jurisdiction statute for that specific university and city. The AG pointed to statutes covering North Texas State, Texas Woman's University, and Texas Tech that grant such authority; universities without a matching statute would be in Tarleton's position. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Background and statutory framework

Code of Criminal Procedure article 2.12(9) makes officers commissioned by a state university's governing board peace officers, and section 153 of article 6701d says any peace officer may arrest without warrant a person found violating the traffic act. Read literally, that could authorize any peace officer to arrest for a traffic offense anywhere in Texas, and the Court of Criminal Appeals so read it in Christopher v. State, but the court overruled that decision in Preston v. State, holding that a campus officer was not lawfully discharging an official duty when he arrested for an off-campus traffic offense because he was outside the jurisdictional limits set by Education Code section 51.203. Section 51.203 vests campus officers with peace-officer powers on property under the institution's control or otherwise in the performance of their duties. The AG also cited Love v. State, and pointed to article 14.01(a) and Romo v. State for the citizen-arrest authority. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

On the streets question, home-rule cities like Stephenville have exclusive control over their public streets under article 1175 and State v. City of Austin, and cannot delegate that control themselves, per City of El Paso v. Mendoza; only the legislature can place it elsewhere. The legislature did grant campus police concurrent jurisdiction over public streets through or adjacent to North Texas State University and Texas Woman's University under Education Code sections 105.91(a) and 107.81(a), and authorized Denton to delegate parking regulation under section 105.93, with a comparable provision for Texas Tech and Lubbock at section 110.13(a). No such statute exists for Stephenville and Tarleton, which the AG treated as a clear legislative intent that campus officers have no jurisdiction over those streets. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Citations and references

The opinion cited the following authorities. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Statutes:

• Education Code § 51.203 (campus security personnel; peace-officer powers)
• V.T.C.S. art. 6701d, § 153 (Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways; warrantless arrest)
• Code of Criminal Procedure art. 2.12(9) (university officers are peace officers)
• Code of Criminal Procedure art. 14.01(a) (citizen arrest for felony or breach of peace)
• Education Code §§ 105.91(a), 105.93, 107.81(a), 110.13(a) (concurrent jurisdiction at other universities)
• V.T.C.S. art. 1175 (home-rule city control of streets)

Cases:

• Christopher v. State, 639 S.W.2d 932 (Tex. Crim. App. 1982)
• Preston v. State, 700 S.W.2d 227 (Tex. Crim. App. 1985)
• Love v. State, 687 S.W.2d 469 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, pet. ref'd)
• Romo v. State, 577 S.W.2d 251 (Tex. Crim. App. 1979)
• State v. City of Austin, 331 S.W.2d 737 (Tex. 1960)
• City of El Paso v. Mendoza, 191 S.W.2d 102 (Tex. Civ. App. - El Paso 1945, writ ref'd w.o.m.)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0563
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0563.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

October 16, 1986

Honorable Gale Warren
Erath County Attorney
Erath County Courthouse
Stephenville, Texas 76401

Opinion No. JM-563

Re: Authority of Tarleton State University campus peace officers

Dear Mr. Warren:

You have requested our opinion about the authority of campus peace officers at Tarleton State University to arrest persons they observe committing off-campus traffic violations. Your specific questions are:

1. Does article 6701d, section 153, V.T.C.S., authorize the arrest by [such] peace officers for traffic offenses committed within their view, but outside their territorial jurisdiction?

2. Are state owned streets and highways passing through university owned lands considered within the jurisdiction of campus security peace officers?

3. Do streets and highways adjoining state university lands come within the jurisdiction of campus security peace officers?

4. Do campus security peace officers have jurisdiction to arrest for violations of traffic offenses or other minor offenses not involving a breach of the peace committed within their view while outside the territory of their jurisdiction?

Article 2.12, subdivision (9), of the Code of Criminal Procedure identifies officers commissioned by the governing board of any state institution of higher education as peace officers. Section 153 of article 6701d, V.T.C.S., the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways, reads:

Any peace officer is authorized to arrest without warrant any person found committing a violation of any provision of this Act.

Although this provision could be read to authorize any peace officer, regardless of his normal jurisdiction, to arrest a person committing a traffic offense at any time and at any place in Texas -- and was so read in Christopher v. State, 639 S.W.2d 932 (Tex. Crim. App. 1982) -- its meaning is not so broad. The Court of Criminal Appeals, overruling the Christopher case, held in Preston v. State, 700 S.W.2d 227 (Tex. Crim. App. 1985), that a campus peace officer was not lawfully discharging an official duty when he attempted to arrest a person for an off-campus traffic offense. This, "because he was then acting outside of his jurisdictional limits as prescribed by section 51.203 [of the Education Code]." 700 S.W.2d at 230. Cf. Love v. State, 687 S.W.2d 469 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, pet. ref'd) (city policeman).

Section 51.203 of the Education Code provides:

The governing boards of each state institution of higher education may employ campus security personnel for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this subchapter and may commission them as peace officers. Any officer commissioned under this section is vested with all the powers, privileges, and immunities of peace officers while on the property under the control and jurisdiction of the institution of higher education or otherwise in the performance of his duties. Any officer assigned to duty and commissioned shall take and file the oath required of peace officers, and shall execute and file a good and sufficient bond in the sum of $1,000, payable to the governor and his successors in office, with two or more good and sufficient sureties, conditioned that he will fairly, impartially, and faithfully perform all the duties that may be required of him by law. The bond may be sued on from time to time in the name of any person injured until the whole amount of the bond is recovered. (Emphasis added).

In answer to your first and fourth questions, in view of the Preston v. State holding of the Court of Criminal Appeals, we advise that Tarleton State University campus peace officers are not authorized as a part of their official duties as campus peace officers to arrest persons for traffic offenses or other offenses committed within their view but outside their territorial jurisdiction. Of course, they retain the authority possessed by every citizen, as recognized in Preston, to arrest anyone without a warrant for a felony offense or a breach of the peace committed within their presence or within their view. Code Crim. Proc. art. 14.01(a). See Romo v. State, 577 S.W.2d 251 (Tex. Crim. App. 1979). However, any such arrest may subject that individual to liability for false arrest or other tort.

Your second and third questions ask about the jurisdiction of such officers on state-owned streets and highways passing through university property or adjacent thereto.

Home rule cities such as Stephenville, where Tarleton State University is located, have exclusive dominion, control and jurisdiction over public streets in the city, subject to the power of the legislature to place control elsewhere. V.T.C.S. art. 1175; State v. City of Austin, 331 S.W.2d 737 (Tex. 1960). However, it is a dominion, control and jurisdiction which the cities have no authority to delegate to others; that discretion is lodged in the legislature. City of El Paso v. Mendoza, 191 S.W.2d 102 (Tex. Civ. App. - El Paso 1945, writ ref'd w.o.m.).

By statute, the legislature has conferred concurrent jurisdiction with police officers of the city of Denton upon commissioned campus personnel to enforce all laws, including traffic laws, on any public street running through the property of North Texas State University or Texas Woman's University, and on any public street immediately adjacent to property owned, occupied or controlled by the universities. Educ. Code §§ 105.91(a), 107.81(a). It has also authorized the city of Denton, by contract, to delegate to the universities the authority to regulate parking on those streets. Id. § 105.93. But similar provisions have not been enacted for the city of Stephenville and Tarleton State University. Cf. Educ. Code § 110.13(a) (Texas Tech University and the city of Lubbock).

The failure of the legislature to provide for the exercise of such concurrent jurisdiction over streets running through or adjacent to the property of Tarleton State University and other universities, by contrast, clearly indicates a legislative intent that such concurrent jurisdiction should not exist. Consequently, in response to your second and third questions, we answer that campus peace officers of Tarleton State University have no jurisdiction as peace officers over state owned public streets and highways passing through university owned lands or adjacent thereto.

In sum, campus peace officers at Tarleton State University are peace officers, but their territorial jurisdiction is limited. See Preston v. State, supra. They are without authority to make arrests as peace officers outside their jurisdiction, and the public streets and highways running through or adjacent to university property are not within their jurisdiction.

SUMMARY

Campus peace officers at Tarleton State University in Stephenville are peace officers but their territorial jurisdiction is limited. They are without authority to make arrests as peace officers outside their jurisdiction, but may make citizens arrests in proper cases. The public streets and highways running through or adjacent to university property are not within their jurisdiction.

Very truly yours,

Jim Mattox
Attorney General of Texas

JACK HIGHTOWER
First Assistant Attorney General

MARY KELLER
Executive Assistant Attorney General

RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee

Prepared by Bruce Youngblood
Assistant Attorney General