Police at Millersville University and Pennsylvania’s other state-owned universities officially have authority to file charges on their own turf.
Gov. Tom Wolf approved a bill Thursday that will restore police powers to campus and university police at state schools.
Police at Millersville University – Lancaster County’s only state school – had no legal authority to charge for crimes or violations on public roads that passed through campus.
Until Thursday.
Act 41 of 2015 states that “all highways, trafficways and bicycle and pedestrian facilities that traverse or abut all lands and buildings owned, controlled, leased or managed by the State System of Higher Education are now within the state universities jurisdiction.”
The law goes into effect Nov. 30.
A state Superior Court ruling in January prohibited campus police from filing charges on those locations, which affected multiple active cases involving Millersville University police.
Even roads surrounded by campus property, according to the Superior Court’s January ruling, were not under campus police jurisdiction. Several Millersville high-traffic throughways – George and Franklin streets and Shenks Lane – were affected by the ruling.
Act 41 was approved the by the state Senate and House last month before it was presented to Gov. Tom Wolf.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us