rape allegations<\/a> at Cornell University. The entire statement is below: <\/p>\n“The investigation into the Cornell University Police Department has brought undue scrutiny upon the New York State University Police and the over 500 university police officers represented by the PBA. Though we do not intend to disparage the men and women serving in the Cornell University Police Department, we believe it is imperative for the public to understand that they are employed by a private institution rather than the State of New York, they are not university police officers, and they are not represented by the PBA. The men and women serving in the Cornell University Police Department are appointed as special deputy sheriffs pursuant to EDU 5709 are \u201cpeace officers\u201d under CPL 2.10(42). By contrast, the men and women of the New York State University Police are appointed as university police officers pursuant to EDN 355(2)(l) and are police officers under CPL 1.20(34)(s).These university police officers work tirelessly to protect the students, faculty, and staff at 29 SUNY campuses throughout New York State. Unfortunately, there are no university police officers at Cornell University or any other private college or university. Like Cornell University, CUNY\u2019s 26 campuses are protected by peace officers instead of university police officers. These peace officers are appointed by the CUNY board of trustees pursuant to EDN 6206. New York State\u2019s 37 community colleges are protected by security guards and\/or peace officers appointed by the college\u2019s board of trustees pursuant to EDN 6306(5-a).Our university police officers receive specialized training on responding to and investigating sexual assaults. Consistent with this training, university police officers understand and apply the principles of trauma informed interviewing to each case. Our university police officers leverage their relationships with advocates, SANE nurses, Title IX coordinators, counselors, residential life, student conduct, CARE teams, and District Attorneys to ensure survivors receive comprehensive support. The men and women of the New York State University Police ensure that every survivor understands their rights, understands their options, understands the process, and has access to the resources they need.The PBA has learned that several legislators are calling for the New York State Police to assume an expanded role in sexual assault investigations that occur on campuses throughout New York State. Though well intentioned, this legislation is not the answer. The New York State Police Campus Sexual Assault Unit already offers assistance to campuses and other law enforcement agencies by providing law enforcement training, providing public education, and maintaining a campus sexual assault victim hotline. Survivors of campus sexual assault can reach the Campus Sexual Assault Unit by calling 1-844-845-7269.The PBA has already proposed legislation that would centralize the 29 university police departments across the State of New York into a single law enforcement agency modeled after the Division of State Police and reporting to the Commissioner of the New York State University Police, rather than to the president of a college or university. The PBA believes that it is imperative for New York State to remove presidents from the chain of command in order to eliminate any actual or perceived conflicts of interest between the campus\u2019 reputation and the university police departments\u2019 obligation to ensure that survivors receive the justice they deserve. This legislation would provide university police officers with jurisdiction throughout the State, allowing our investigators to aid survivors at all 29 campuses and to provide assistance to any college or university that needs additional resources. Our university police officers have dedicated their careers to protecting and serving our campus communities. We encourage you to contact your local legislators and urge them to support S4707\/A5887.Finally, we appreciate Governor Hochul and her administration\u2019s continued engagement on this issue. The Rockefeller Institute recently published a study examining potential reforms to the structure and coordination of the SUNY University Police system, including centralization of certain functions. We welcome the opportunity to participate with SUNY in the working group examining the future structure of University Police. The PBA looks forward to bringing the experience of the officers who serve these campuses every day to that discussion and continuing to work with the administration, SUNY and the Legislature to strengthen campus safety.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ITHACA, N.Y. \u2014 New York’s Police Benevolent Association (PBA) has released a statement in support of new regulations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":["post-369254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}