Weekly DPS Criminal Report

Every week I will publish an analysis of the criminal activity committed by DPS as reported in the "DPS Reports" section in the Marquette Tribune. The first criminal action committed by DPS was on March 7 when they used surveillance cameras to track down a student who had committed vandalism. Since vandalism is a misdemeanor, and since DPS was not present at the scene of the crime it did not have the legal right to follow nor to detain the student. The next crime occurred on March 11, when DPS followed an individual who stole a car from a Marquette University parking lot. While DPS did have the legal right to detain the individual on Marquette University property, if the DPS officer saw the crime being committed. However, since the crime was observed through a video monitor, according to Circuit Court rulings in both Forgie-Buccioni vs. Hannaford Bros. and City of Everett v. Rhodes viewing criminal actions both on tape and live on video monitors does not constitute being present for the commission of a crime. As such, DPS was not present and its following of a suspect until it got a Mliwaukee Police officer to arrest the suspect, was an action which was outside of its legal bounds. On March 17 DPS stopped a car for driving through a red light, a municipal offense, then contacted MPD and had the driver arrested for OWI. While OWI is a serious enough offense to allow for citizens arrest in Wisconsin, DPS did not stop the driver for OWI, but rather for running a red light. Again DPS forgets its role as a private security force that has absolutely no legal jurisdiction and cannot under any circumstances act as a police force. A simple rule of thumb regarding DPS is that if an average citizen cannot act in any particular manner, then DPS cannot either. Since one cannot act as a one man police force, neither can DPS. Remember, do not fear DPS nor obey them, you are all free citizens and should never bow before private security forces and their supposed law enforcement actions.

Private Security Forces, aka DPS

Marquette University has a security force which is called the Department of Public Safety, DPS for short. The purpose of this force is to ostensibly protect the student body, which is surely why all of the officers need to carry semiautomatic pistols with them. DPS has over 400 cameras on campus, and in the campus area. Which is a wonderful thought, a private security force, which does not answer to the public, which has little to no oversight, having 400 cameras monitoring the movement of students and those who live in the general neighborhood of the university. Meaning that if one were to walk within a roughly 4 block radius of the heart of campus, 14th and Wisconsin Ave., one would be continually monitored, even though a majority of that radius is not the property of the university. Privacy advocates should take issue with this, but then again, privacy does not exist at private universities. Moreover, DPS admittedly uses these cameras to monitor the Marquette area for any and all criminal activity. Sure it's great to have friendly people with pistols monitoring your every move to see if you get mugged. Sounds like a great idea, until they illegally enter into homes to arrest people. Go outside of their legal bounds in order to "detain" people suspected of crimes until they are arrested by the Milwaukee Police Department.
Students at the university fail to realize that under Wisconsin State Law, Marquette's Department of Public Safety, cannot be a police force. It has absolutely no legal jurisdiction whatsoever. It can only act under the guise of cititzen's arrest, meaning that I and you have exactly the same rights as DPS does. Unless of course you are on MU's property, at which point in time it has a lot more rights. However, DPS acts as if it is a real police force. They drive around in faux police cars, with lights, they carry guns, have the police like laptops in their cars, and interrogate suspects. They admit to investigating crimes, which is of course illegal in Wisconsin.
So the next time a DPS car rolls by, just make sure you're not committing a felony, disorderly conduct, assault and/or battery, 4th degree or greater sexual assault, drunk driving, or illegally firing a weapon, and you're perfectly fine, because no they cannot stop you for violating open container laws (a city ordinance) or public drunkenness, or whatever you may be doing, such as sitting in a parked car (which happened to yours truly, in which I was asked by DPS why I was sitting in a parked car on a street, I happened to be wating for a roommate to show up to sign my lease).

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is going to be to monitor the activities at Marquette University in Milwaukee Wisconsin. This university, which labels itself as "Milwaukee's Catholic Jesuit University" rarely if ever fills up to its billing. The cost of the tuition, room, and board, is excessive for what one gets from the university. Moreover, this has absolutely nothing to do with being a Jesuit University. As such, as the "Warrior Watcher" I will compare the policies of this university to the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola. As an individual who has in depth knowledge of certain aspects of this university, I will hopefully add insight into the true nature of what thousands of people are paying $30,000 a year for. That is, a highly secular education which is rooted in profit margins, and greed, rather than "Cura Personalis" (care for the whole person). Another supposed motto of the university, as with all Jesuit schools is AMDG "Ad Majorem Dei Glorium" or for the greater glory of God. To which I retort, which part of paying $1200 a semester for food is promoting the glory of God? How exactly does this university actually live up to Jesuit ideals, or even the ideals of the Roman Catholic Church? I hope that everyone will enjoy this blog, as I point out the failings of the university, and hopefully this will lead to some progress towards recreating a university which once had a law school which was cheaper than that of UW-Madison.