Jurisdiction and Authority

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The Department handles all law enforcement duties in conjunction with the campus and also patrols the streets and areas contiguous to the University traveled by students and faculty to and from the campus to area parking lots and public transportation locations. Sworn members of the department are employed by Framingham State University and serve the institutions as police officers.

It is not the policy of the agency to infringe upon the primary responsibility of other agencies including the Framingham Police Department and Massachusetts State Police in areas not owned, used, or occupied by the University. However, officers maintain a close working relationship with those agencies and cooperate routinely on police responses in the area.

Sworn police officers of the Department are sworn in by the Massachusetts State Police as Special State Police Officers (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 22C Section 63) granting the "same power to make arrests as regular police officers for any criminal offense committed in or upon lands or structures owned, used, or occupied by such College..." Subsequent to their appointment, officers are also sworn in as deputy sheriffs of Middlesex County, allowing the officers to perform police functions on the public ways of the county. Officers are also charged with the responsibility of performing parking enforcement on the campus property, as well as the Town of Framingham public ways.

The Department enjoys a close working relationship with the Framingham Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office and several other city and town agencies on court proceedings, investigations and matters pertaining to more than one agency of the commonwealth or a surrounding municipal authority.