Peace officers: independent institutions of higher education: security officers.

Existing law designates all persons who meet specified standards as peace officers. Existing law requires any sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or police officer, as specified, to successfully complete a course of training prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training before exercising the powers of a peace officer. Under existing law, a person regularly employed as a security officer for an independent institution of higher education is not a peace officer but may exercise the powers of arrest of a peace officer during the course and within the scope of his or her employment if the employing institution of higher education has concluded a memorandum of understanding, permitting the exercise of authority, with the sheriff or the chief of police within whose jurisdiction the institution lies. This bill would allow a person regularly employed as a security officer for an independent institution of higher education to be deputized or appointed as a reserve deputy or officer by a sheriff or chief of police if he or she has completed the basic training course for deputy sheriffs and police officers prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, and the institution of higher education and the appropriate local law enforcement agency have entered into a memorandum of understanding. The bill would extend the authority of a person designated as a peace officer pursuant to these provisions to any place in the state and would make that authority applicable only while he or she is engaged in the performance of his or her assigned duties, as specified.