Kaylee's Law, named after Kaylee Sawyer, who was killed by a security officer at Central Oregon Community College in Bend during 2016, promises to change campus security laws for the well-being of students and staff at local Oregon colleges.
The Southern Oregon University's (SOU) Campus Public Safety team said this law changes procedures on campus and the dress code to help students difference between campus security members and police officers. Right now, the SOU campus security uniform is a dark blue with a patch on the arm, says a news report. Kaylee's Law means campus security will have to create a new uniform. Campus security is considering getting polo shirts and making a different patch that will use SOU's color scheme, according to Andrew MacPherson, the Director of Campus Public Safety, says the report.
Kaylee's Law further restricts campus security's ability to stop and frisk people. The Campus Public Safety team said this might affect their ability to keep students safe, especially if they see someone suspicious on campus. "Previously, we had the right to detain them," MacPherson said. "Tell them you're being detained while we figure out what's going on. Now, we don't have that. So, I think that'll impact us because they'll have the ability to wander away."
Kaylee's Law also requires background checks for people who want to work for campus security. Although SOU already requires screening procedures, the University will have to add a psychiatric evaluation to the hiring process.
SOU's campus security team is working on other ways to keep students safe by launching a cellphone app called Alert Us, which will have a panic button students can press to immediately contact campus security. The app can't pinpoint the exact location of a student who is in trouble, says the news report, but it will tell them the general location so they can go and help. The app will also send out push notifications about important events on campus, including events such as school closures or emergency situations.