'Gap' in law would be tough to bridge

University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III wants universities to be notified when their students are arrested elsewhere in Virginia — but the idea may face resistance from some corners of the law enforcement community.

UVa was not told after George Huguely — a 22-year-old member of UVa’s lacrosse team charged in the death of lacrosse player Yeardley Love — was arrested for being drunk in public and resisting arrest a year-and-a-half ago in Lexington.

The November 2008 incident, UVa officials said, would have been a red flag had the university known. Administrators, they said, could have intervened with Huguely earlier.

At a news conference Wednesday, Casteen said he would speak with Gov. Bob McDonnell about enacting a new policy or law that requires notification of universities when students are arrested in other jurisdictions.

Casteen said Virginia’s lack of required notification is a “hole you can drive a truck through.”

McDonnell’s press secretary, Stacey Johnson, said he is open to ideas that could prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.

“We are reaching out today to President Casteen to arrange a personal meeting with the governor,” Johnson said in an e-mail. “The governor wants to study and fully consider every possible idea that could help prevent such a senseless crime from taking place in the future. He looks forward to hearing the president’s insights and thoughts on the issue.”

Dana G. Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, is urging state officials to tread carefully when it comes to requiring police departments to notify universities about student arrests and criminal charges.

“We understand the motivation here. Believe me, we do,” she said. “People want to prevent these things from happening in the future. But we need to be very careful when enacting legislation to mandate this kind of communication.”

When arresting someone, police officers do not always ask if the person is a student. If they do, Schrad noted, the student might lie. Student-athletes, who possibly stand to lose their scholarship, might be especially inclined to withhold that information, she said.

If a police department failed to notify the university of a student’s arrest, she added, what exactly would be the consequences? Would the police department be liable?

Furthermore, she said, notifying universities of student arrests — rather than convictions — could pose privacy and civil liberties concerns. What if a student is arrested but is eventually cleared of wrongdoing? Should the university have been told?

Schrad also said that requiring police to notify universities of student arrests would add yet another expenditure to local police departments’ already stretched budgets.

“There’s a tendency to think that doing something like this in the wake of a tragedy will plug the hole, that it will stop the problem,” said Schrad, mother of two graduates of UVa. “It won’t.”

A better strategy, she said, would be to encourage young people who are in abusive relationships to report the abuse. “We need our students to stand up for each other,” she said. “We need our young men to stand up. And vice versa.”

Albemarle County Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding pointed out that Charlottesville and Albemarle County have long notified UVa when students are arrested. He said he has no objections to enacting a similar process for law enforcement agencies across the state.

“It’s doable,” Harding said. “We did it here locally.”

UVa spokeswoman Carol Wood said the idea is in the early stages and few details have been hammered out.

“The idea is to provide a consistent channel of information that would flow between law enforcement in different jurisdictions and universities,” she said.

UVa would be interested in knowing when a student is arrested, particularly for drug or alcohol violations, she said, because the university could then have a conversation with the student and take the appropriate measures at an earlier stage.

“If a student gets arrested for being drunk in public, we want to know and meet with them, regardless of whether or not they’re eventually convicted,” Wood said. “That could be an early warning sign.”

UVa has a policy requiring students to self-report criminal violations to the university, but sometimes — such as with the case of Huguely’s Lexington arrest — that does not occur.

Lawmakers said they are receptive to Casteen’s idea of mandating that universities be notified of student arrests elsewhere in the state.

“The more informed universities are about the background of the youngsters there, the better able the universities would be to help the youngsters get the help they need,” said Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottes-ville.

Student privacy concerns, Toscano said, should be weighed carefully. But, he added, lawmakers should be able to work through those issues.

Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, said he would certainly consider Cas-teen’s idea, noting that it could help universities detect warning signs of alcohol abuse and violence. “There were so many red flags,” he said. “Of course, a person is innocent until proven guilty. But, gosh, it just sounds like there were so many red flags.”

Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, said he does not think there would be privacy issues because the vast majority of college students are older than 18 and records of their arrests are open to the public. However, he said, there might be some logistical issues. Who makes the call to the university? Who exactly do they notify? And, he added, such a new policy would require law enforcement agencies or clerks of the court to change their procedures.

“It’s something I would want to look at,” Bell said.

The Albemarle County School Board has been advocating for somewhat similar legislation since 17-year-old Albemarle High School student and lacrosse player Nolan Jenkins crashed and died on the Thomas Jefferson Parkway in 2006. Police said alcohol may have been a factor.

Authorities returned to the party where Jenkins had been and arrested 11 other teenagers on underage possession of alcohol charges.

A few weeks later, county authorities busted a party in western Albemarle and arrested 16 more high school students on alcohol violation charges.

In the aftermath, Albemarle’s school officials sought legislation that would allow law enforcement agencies to notify the school system when a student is arrested off school property, so long as the arrest causes a “material disruption to the school division’s operations.”

With such knowledge, School Board Member Brian Wheeler said, school officials could intervene with students who are drinking underage or engaging in other unsafe behavior.

“It is in the interest of all our students for the educators who work with them every day to have information about challenges they’re facing with alcohol or drugs,” he said. “We can help get them counseling and help them make better choices in the future.”