The American Civil Liberties Union says state certification of Brigham Young University police officers violates the U.S. Constitution's ban on church-state alliances.
But a BYU spokesman says the matter is not a church-state issue.ACLU officials held a press conference in Salt Lake City Wednesday afternoon to announce their filing of a brief in the Utah Court of Appeals to overturn sections of a 1977 Utah law as unconstitutional. The sections give statewide police power to officers employed by any college or university.
Michelle A. Parish-Pixler, the ACLU's acting executive director, said the law establishes a private religious police force, accountable to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and "unconstitutionally authorized to enforce laws throughout the state."
The ACLU said it is not opposed to officers employed by the church-owned university doing whatever is required on the campus but objects to their having police power involving law enforcement off campus.
BYU officials, however, say that the issue is not wrapped in the First Amendment, which is designed to allow citizens the right to practice the religion of their choice.
The controversy stems from an incident in which a BYU officer cited a minor off campus in Provo for underage drinking. On a routine patrol of Ninth East, a street that borders campus, a BYU officer made a courtesy stop to tell the driver his car tail lights were out. The officer smelled alcohol in the vehicle and called Provo police for assistance but was authorized instead to issue citations. The youth was eventually found guilty and fined $187.50.
"They admitted to drinking," said BYU spokesman Paul Richards. "It has nothing to do with the BYU code of honor or the LDS Word of Wisdom. It has to do with enforcement of state law."
The First Amendment issue "didn't mean they couldn't have an influence on the state or the state on the people - only that the state could not interfere on how a person exercises his or her beliefs," Richards said.
Richards said having a state-approved and trained police agency should be viewed in the same light as constructing buildings to meet state codes. Parish-Pixler said BYU students and staff are required to sign and observe a strict moral code based on LDS beliefs, and the honor code is enforced by BYU campus police.
"The ACLU of Utah believes it to be an obvious and direct violation of the First Amendment protection against the establishment of religion for the state to allow church police to enforce civil law, empowered with full state police authority and statewide jurisdiction."
The ACLU objects to giving the police state approval when they are authorized to enforce moral doctrine, she said. State police powers could impart an aura of state approval to the officers, she said.
Jay Gurmankin, who represented "M.S.," the 16-year-old boy, said the fact that the officer was an agent of the church made the arrest constitutionally impermissible.
There should be "no state certification of religious police or church police," he said. That would apply even if BYU did not require its officers to submit to church standards, he added.