A: The peace officer legislation permits the carrying of firearms after individuals have satisfied specific state and local training requirements, such as to undergo additional background and psychological checks and complete initial extensive firearms training by SPD, annual testing, and all other state and local requirements. Additional training related to less-than-lethal weapons (e.g., verbal skills, interpersonal skills, physical force and restraint, baton and spray) as well as community relations, including diversity issues, will continue to be emphasized.

Several meetings with individuals, committees, councils, boards and other groups, as well as open forums sponsored by student organizations were held to include full discussion of all sides of the issue, including the implementation process. Information on this Web site was installed in November 2003. Comments from this site as well as responses to an online survey sponsored by the University Senate's Student Life Committee were collected. Since Spring 2003, when Chancellor Shaw charged an ad hoc University committee to research the feasibility of peace officer status, countless articles and stories were printed and broadcast via on- and off-campus media outlets and student class assignments.

Firearms provide peace officers with an additional tool for self-defense given the potentially dangerous situations they would face in carrying out their additional duties. Approximately 91 percent of institutions with student populations of more than 15,000 have campus law enforcement departments with full police powers, including the ability to carry firearms. Other higher education institutions in the state -- including the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Cornell University, Ithaca College and all but two SUNY schools -- have officers who carry firearms. From 1964 to 1981, authorized Public Safety officers at Syracuse University carried firearms, but due to a legal opinion from the Office of New York State Attorney General, deputized officers other than police officers across the state lost their ability to fully and effectively respond to the safety of the campus community.