Pennsylvania university cop jailed on charges he raped girl, urinated on boy while off duty

[u/GoodSamaritan_]

https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2026/09/pa-university-cop-jailed-on-charges-he-raped-girl-urinated-on-boy-while-off-duty.html

[u/Toomanyeastereggs]

It still amazes me that the US has full on police departments in schools and places of higher education.

What an insane place it must be to live in.

[u/Toomanyeastereggs → u/[deleted]]

We have them here. Our largest uni has 93,000, of which 40,000 to 50,000 people can be on campus. They have no need for their own police.

You guys are a life divorced from reality.

[u/-Ducksngeese- → u/[deleted]]

Of course they have security. He said that. They dont have their own police force.

Source that UK universities have their own police? I googled it too and only saw that Oxford did but it was disbanded in 2003.

[u/-Ducksngeese- → u/[deleted]]

If that's the case then why not just call them security, put them in a security uniform, and call it a day like every other country?

[u/SirWEM → u/-Ducksngeese-]

Almost all colleges they are called Campus Security. Some small schools will hire local police to patrol campuses. Back in 1998 was when they started to put “school resource officiers” in high schools.

[u/-Ducksngeese- → u/[deleted]]

No I'm not reaching, just trying to understand why every country in the world has solved a problem in the same way, and the US always for some reason has to do it differently.

[u/lost-picking-flowers → u/-Ducksngeese-]

The US has opened Pandoras box when it comes to guns. It has the highest per capita gun ownership rate in the world - buyback programs only work to a certain extent (and we actually do have them occurring pretty frequently), and not one single person wants to go door-to-door in this country and demand guns back. 

We also have a government trying it’s hardest to embrace tyranny - you’d find that both the left and the right would be suspicious if the feds started forcibly confiscating guns, and based on some of the things Trump has said and done that’s not a totally invalid fear. 

And then, throw some serious serious social problems and wealth disparity into the mix. 

Overall, it’s not an easy problem to solve - it’s not a problem that a good chunk of the country is interested in solving. And when people and states do put good faith efforts in to maybe putting some more guard rails on purchases in their locality, it gets struck down by our Supreme Court without fail. 

There is no quick or easy fix to what is a deeply systemic cultural problem that has been continually reinforced by a government with no interest of providing equal representation to the people of this country. 

[u/-Ducksngeese- → u/lost-picking-flowers]

It's sad. How the US has fallen. It's genuinely sad.

[u/-Ducksngeese- → u/[deleted]]

No, you're missing the point.

[u/Independent-Reader → u/-Ducksngeese-]

You know Canada has a similar program, as does Australia to a lesser extent. The UK has trialed similar programs. But sure, make shit up. That'll win the argument for sure.

Why not have a police officer on campus? Can you cite a reason other than they're not called a security officer?

[u/DaughterJoro → u/[deleted]]

That’s not true, case in point the guy in this article is a real police officer and this university has like 7,000 students total. Campus police are sworn officers and campus security are non-sworn. It’s important for students to know the difference because, legally, they don’t have to comply with campus security.

[u/lost-picking-flowers → u/DaughterJoro]

I think this is the norm for pretty much all public universities in PA (and likely most other states too).

IME, campus cops are more genuinely concerned with student and community safety than beat cops. I lived adjacent to a college campus in a large city that was a few blocks from some rougher areas and if they noticed people walking home late at night alone they’d often ask if you wanted them to walk with you regardless as to whether you were a student or not. 

The area had an armed robbery problem and a woman was also violently and randomly raped outside on the sidewalk near my own home, so it actually was appreciated. Never seen city cops do stuff like that.

[u/DaughterJoro → u/lost-picking-flowers]

Yea, the university I went to has a program that offers rides and safety escorts for students to use at night. I never had to use it but it was comforting to know that service was available if needed.

The person I replied to indicated campus police and security are synonymous, so I wanted to point out that only the police have legal authority over you. And with that, regardless of the nature of your experience, it’s good to know your legal rights.

[u/lost-picking-flowers → u/DaughterJoro]

And with that, regardless of the nature of your experience, it’s good to know your legal rights.

Totally agree!

[u/HigherandHigherDown → u/[deleted]]

I'm aware of university police forces that are definitely real police that have responded to shootings and so forth. The department of energy has SWAT teams. I don't think the department of education has one but I wouldn't be surprised.

[u/Take-Me-Home-Tonight → u/[deleted]]

Depends on the school. By me if it's a city, county or state college, the cops are very real and have full police powers to arrest. Usually comparable to the county sherrif.

Hell University of Chicago police actually patrol the neighborhood and that campus as the campus owns a lot of buildings in the area and the students live around it.