Short Title — Notification of Law Enforcement Agency of a Medically Unattended Death or of a Report Alleging Rape — Joint Investigation — Penalty
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This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Robert ‘Robbie’ Nottingham Campus Crime Scene Investigation Act of 2004.”
Regardless of whether a public or private institution of higher education has entered into a mutual assistance agreement with a law enforcement agency pursuant to § 49-7-118, the chief security officer or chief law enforcement officer of the institution shall immediately notify, unless otherwise provided by federal law, the local law enforcement agency with territorial jurisdiction over the institution, if the medically unattended death of a person occurs on the property of the institution, or if the officer is in receipt of a report from the victim alleging that any degree of rape has occurred on the property of the institution. The chief security officer or chief law enforcement officer shall designate one (1) or more persons who shall have the authority and duty to notify the appropriate law enforcement agency in the absence of the chief security officer or chief law enforcement officer.
Upon notification pursuant to subsection (b), it shall be the duty of each law enforcement agency to participate in a joint investigation of the death or alleged rape reported pursuant to subsection (b). In the case of a medically unattended death, the local law enforcement agency shall lead the investigation. In the case of an alleged rape, the institution's law enforcement agency shall lead the investigation.
After notifying the local law enforcement agency pursuant to subsection (b), the security officers or law enforcement officers and all other employees of the institution shall cooperate in every respect with the investigation conducted by the law enforcement agency.
Any official of a public or private institution of higher education receiving a report from a victim of rape occurring on the property or in the vicinity of the institution shall refer the victim to a sexual assault program or other service on campus or in the community. Sexual assault programs shall report annually, by January 31, to the chief security or law enforcement officer of the institution of the number of requests for assistance received from victims who were raped on or in the vicinity of a public or private institution of higher education during the preceding calendar year.
As used in this section, “local law enforcement agency” means:
Within the territory of a municipality, the municipal police force;
Within the territory of a county having a metropolitan form of government, the metropolitan police force; and
Within the unincorporated territory of a county, the sheriff's office.
A knowing violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.