SUNY Police Training?

[firedude 985]

Are SUNY Police Officers trained at the NYSP Academy or do they have their own academy? Do they recieve the same training as State Troopers? Are they a division of NYSP or SUNY? Thanks in advance.

Photo Courtesy of SUNY Cortland University Police

SUNY Purchase PD

[INIT915 1,119]

They have no affiliation with NYSP in any regard. The only thing that have in common is they both have statewide jurisdiction. Campus Police authority doesn't stop at the edge of the University property. They are in the same Union as State Park Police and EnCon Police, again, all of whom are unrelated to the NYSP.

They do not attend the NYSP Academy nor do they have their own Academy. They are all affiliated with the local academy for their respective regions. I.e. Westchester County Police Academy

They have little in terms of a centralizes state-wide command (although I would argue they should.) Instead, each SUNY PD is, in a sense, a completely separate entity. So the SUNY Purchase PD Chief has nothing to do with SUNY New Paltz PD and vice versa. I have long argued that all the SUNY PD's should be one agency, and each campus basically a branch of that central agency. NYS Civil Service gives an exam with the Title - "University Police Officer" which is a completely separate and distinct list from the State Police hiring list.

A story in either the Daily News of the Post within the last few years basically called for the same set-up that I had advocated.

EDIT: Here is one such story that I mentioned: My link

SUNY has 28 different campus police departments, each one with its own administrators, requisition policies, guidelines and even uniforms and insignias.

The report shows that there are 27 different police chiefs and 20 more deputy or assistant police chiefs on the SUNY payroll, making a combined $4.4 million. A host of them make more than $100,000 a year.

The report said the head of the campus police union estimates that consolidation of the SUNY police system could save the state $3 million.

[PFDRes47cue 653]

My buddy just got hired by SUNY Canton PD and is currently in the St. Lawrence County Police Academy. They do not go through the NYSP Academy.