(a)        Requirements. – An individual who is commissioned as a campus police officer must take the oath of office required of a law enforcement officer before the individual assumes the duties of a campus police officer. The person in each campus police agency who is responsible for the agency’s campus police officers must be commissioned as a campus police officer.

(b)        Powers and Authority of Officers. – Campus police officers, while in the performance of their duties of employment, have the same powers as municipal and county police officers to make arrests for both felonies and misdemeanors and to charge for infractions on any of the following:

(1)        Real property owned by or in the possession and control of the institution employing the officer.

(2)        Any portion of any public road or highway passing through the real property described in subdivision (1) of this subsection or immediately adjoining it, wherever located.

(3)        Any other real property while in continuous and immediate pursuit of a person for an offense committed upon property described in subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection.

In exercising the powers conferred by this subsection, campus police officers shall apply the standards established by the law of this State and the United States.

(c)        Powers and Authority of Institutions. – The governing body of any private educational institution that has a campus police agency may:

(1)        Enter into joint agreements with the governing board of any municipality to extend the law enforcement authority of campus police officers into any or all of the municipality’s jurisdiction and to determine the circumstances in which this extension of authority may be granted;

(2)        Enter into joint agreements with the governing board of any county and, with the consent of the sheriff, to extend the law enforcement authority of campus police officers into any or all of the county’s jurisdiction and to determine the circumstances in which this extension of authority may be granted; and

(3)        Enter into joint agreements with the governing board of any other public or private educational institution that has a campus police agency pursuant to this Chapter or pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 116-40.5 to extend the law enforcement authority of its campus police officers into any or all of the other institution’s jurisdiction and to determine the circumstances as to which its extension of authority may be granted.

(d)       Concealed Weapons. – Campus police officers shall have, if duly authorized by their campus police agency and by the sheriff of the county in which the campus police agency is located, the authority to carry concealed weapons pursuant to and in conformity with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-269(b)(5).

(e)        Public Institutions Option. – Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this Chapter, the board of trustees of any constituent institution of The University of North Carolina may elect to have its officers certified under Article 1 of Chapter 17C and Chapter 116 of the N.C. Gen. Stat., and the board of trustees of any community college may elect to have its officers certified under Article 1 of Chapter 17C and Chapter 115D of the N.C. Gen. Stat. rather than requesting certification as a campus police agency and campus police commission pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter.

(f)        Exclusive Authority. – Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the authority granted to campus police officers certified under this Chapter shall be limited to the provisions of this Chapter. ?(2005-231, s. 1; 2018-5, s. 17.1(a).)