ISU security officers overstepping authority?

POCATELLO (AP) - Pocatello officials said they're concerned that campus security officers at Idaho State University have been overstepping their authority.

The concerns stem from several instances, including one in September, when the city said security guards delayed calling police about an accidental shooting, the Idaho State Journal reported. Assistant chemistry professor Byron Bennett shot himself in the foot when a gun in his pocket went off during a lecture, and by the time city police arrived, the scene had been cleaned up.

On other occasions, the city said, campus security administered an alcohol breath-test on a driver before calling police and seized marijuana from a dorm room without notifying police for three days.

Pocatello City Attorney Dean Tranmer raised the city's complaints in a letter last week, noting that the campus safety officers are not law enforcement authorized by state law.

Tranmer also suggested that the university's security officers change their uniforms to orange shirts with black pants to resolve any mistaken identity issues with city officers.

The campus security officers have started carrying pistols this year, and their uniforms are the same color as Pocatello police uniforms, with identical leather holsters.