TDCAA Community
school police jurisdiction

This topic can be found at:
https://tdcaa.infopop.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5253022042/m/3251007302

February 04, 2010, 10:55
suzannewest
school police jurisdiction
The Education Code that gives school police jurisdiction says: (37.081)

"The jurisdiction of a peace officer or security personnel under this section shall be determined by the board of trustees and may include all territory in the boundaries of the school district and all property outside the boundaries of the district that is owned, leased, or rented by or otherwise under the control of the school district and the board of trustees that employ the peace officer or security personnel."

My school police believe that "property" as stated above means physical property rather than real property, and say that their jurisdiction applies wherever the school bus goes. The case we had that brought this up was a defendant from our county, so we prosecuted it as a transfer as far as venue goes, even though it didn't happen in our county. However, the school police believe that it was under their jurisdiction because the bus where the offense occurred was our school property.

Because of this incident on one of our buses out of our county, a school officer in a marked car began escorting the buses to and from the games. I'm thinking they will be in hot water if they attempt to detain anyone off of school campus grounds, but they read the "property" as described in the Education Code to be the bus itself.

Can't find any case law that discusses this, that "property" means geographical locale, not physical property that people could happen to be inside of, but maybe I am wrong or am missing something?