Both do, however, involve openness, accountability and transparency.
Attorneys for the privately-owned campus have argued that as a private institution, it should not be subject to record laws meant for government agencies.
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The controversy stems from a Government Records Access and Management Act request made by the Salt Lake Tribune seeking emails sent by BYU police regarding rape allegations made by a 19-year-old student in 2016.
BYU declined to release the emails, arguing it is a "privately funded, managed and operated police department within a private university." University attorneys contended the "stated purpose of GRAMA is to allow access to certain government records held by governmental entities — not to allow access to private records of private institutions such as BYU, or internal departments of private institutions, such as university police."Reference: Deseret News (Published: February 26, 2019 9:34 am)
According to a report today just seven hours in The Salt Lake Tribune
"Police officers at Brigham Young University would lose their authority to make arrests and investigate crimes on Sept. 1 under sanctions announced Tuesday by Utah’s commissioner of public safety.
It’s the first time in Utah history the state has moved to decertify an entire police force, said Marissa Cote, a spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Public Safety, or DPS. The private school, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it plans to appeal
.
A letter released Tuesday by DPS revealed the ongoing dispute between it and BYU police as well as campus administrators . . .
In the decertification letter, DPS officials also say that BYU police failed to respond to a subpoena that was issued as police regulators were investigating an officer for misconduct.
The Salt Lake Tribune obtained BYU documents in 2016 that showed that BYU police Lt. Aaron Rhoades accessed a countywide database of police records to collect information from another police department for an Honor Code investigation by the school in one case.
Honor Code investigations are administrative matters involving university rules. The Honor Code at BYU
- forbids alcohol and coffee
- restricts contact between male and female students
- imposes a strict dress code
- bans expressions of romantic affection between people of the same gender.
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> A December letter to BYU police instructed the agency to allow DPS access to all “records, personnel and electronic data” records so investigators could assess how its officers use a police records database, the command structure at BYUPD and “the powers, authority and limitations” of BYU police officers.
> In the decertification letter, DPS officials also say that BYU police failed to respond to a subpoena that was issued as police regulators were investigating an officer for misconduct.
> BYU said it disagrees with the grounds cited by DPS for decertification. It said DPS believes campus police “failed to meet criteria” for an internal investigation and a response to a subpoena. “BYU, however, believes that University Police met all applicable criteria and is surprised that the commissioner is issuing a letter on these technical grounds,” it said.
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It’s unclear whether the practice of searching police records for information related to potential Honor Code violations went beyond the one case connected to Rhoades.
On Oct. 25, Rhoades voluntarily relinquished his peace officer certification rather then undergo a state investigation by Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) into his use of police databases.
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