Pepper-spray affair shows campus police walk fine line (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Kate Dailey
BBC News Magazine

Campus police can have many of the same rights and responsibilities of a municipal department - but they serve a more insular community.

On Friday, Officer John Pike made international headlines when he shot a bright-orange stream of pepper spray at protesting students at the University of California, Davis.

Mr Pike, a member of the UC Davis campus police, was kitted in full riot gear as he sprayed the students at close range.

It wasn't the first time this month campus police have made headlines in the US. A grand jury report on the Penn State sex abuse scandal revealed that in 1998, campus police launched a lengthy investigation into allegations that assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had molested a young boy.

These officers are a far cry from the "rent-a-cop" trope some may think of when it comes to campus security. But they're not aberrations.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15829327

[dtexdem]

1. Sure they walk a fine line: if by that is meant trampling on rights.

After all, there are many fine distinctions that campus cops have been stomping all over.