Law Enforcement/ Powers

Motor Vehicle Rules and Regulations

Application of general criminal laws of state. §37-29-275. Mississippi Code of 1972 amended.
POWERS
Any act which if committed within the limits of a city, town, or village or in any public place would be a violation of the general laws of this state shall be criminal and punishable if done on the campus grounds or roads of any of the state supported community/junior colleges. The peace officers duly appointed by the board of trustees of state-supported community/junior colleges are vested with the powers and subjected to the duties of a constable for the purpose of preventing and punishing all violations of law on state-supported community/junior college grounds and for preserving order and decorum thereon.
JURISDICTION
Campus Police Officers having the duties and powers of a constable as provided by the Mississippi State Legislature (¶ 37-29-275. Mississippi Code of 1972 Amended) have jurisdiction within the boundaries of the College including but not limited to the roads, streets, public ways, and highways located upon College property or upon which College property abuts or adjoins which jurisdiction is concurrent with that of other law enforcement officials having jurisdiction thereon.
K9 DRUG DOGS ON CAMPUS
Hinds Community College seeks to create and maintain a drug-free campus. In that effort canine (K-9) drug detection dogs may be utilized to search all public and common areas in all campus parking lots and buildings for the purposes of detecting illegal drugs and narcotics.
The Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police will arrange supervision and coordinate all canine searches with the assistance of campus police officers, appropriate housing personnel, administrators, and other local law enforcement agencies. Searches will be performed by handlers and canines trained and certified in the detection of illegal drugs/narcotics.
Upon any discovery of suspected illegal drugs/narcotics, persons who are determined to be in violation of State or Federal law and/or College rules and regulations, may be arrested and face College student conduct charges.

Motor Vehicle Rules and Regulations 

MOTOR VEHICLE DECALS:

1. All faculty, staff and students wishing to use a motor vehicle on Hinds Community College campuses, grounds or roads, must purchase a Hinds Community Decal upon first bringing said motor vehicle on Hinds Community College property.
2. Students may purchase a zoning decal at the same time as they register for classes. Decals are purchased and picked up in the Financial Aid Office.
3. Students requiring additional decals during the year may pay for and pick up the decal(s) in the Financial Aid Office
4. In the event a student, faculty, or staff member sells, trades or otherwise disposes of a vehicle with a registered Hinds parking decal, the decal must be removed from the registered vehicle.
5. Motor vehicle registration decals must be prominently displayed and permanently affixed on the left rear bumper or the lower left outside surface of the back windshield of the registered vehicle. Motorcycle registration decals may be placed on the rear fender or under the seat. A vehicle license plate must not be obscured in part or whole by a Hinds vehicle registration decal. Permanent decals are not valid unless displayed in the prescribed manner. Permanent decals may not be displayed through any glass portion of a vehicle. Taping or otherwise affixing a permanent decal to the inside back glass or rear bumper is not permissible!
6. All motor vehicle registration decals expire August 1 of each year.
7. Temporary motor vehicle registration decals may be obtained without charge for a period of five (5) consecutive school days. Individuals are entitled to two (2) such permits per semester. Temporary registration decals are available in the Campus Police Department. Temporary (paper) decals are to be displayed by placing them on the dashboard of the vehicle directly in front of the steering wheel. The entire decal must be prominently displayed so that all information printed thereon is easily viewed from outside the vehicle.
8. An individual with a temporary or permanent physical disability may be given special parking privileges and a special registration decal at no additional charge upon making application for the same by providing proper documentation from a licensed practicing physician to the Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police
9. Individuals losing issued motor vehicle registration decals will be required to re-register their vehicles and pay the full registration decal fee.

MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION DECAL FEE
The registration decal fee for each motor vehicle is $50. If the decal is purchased during the fall semester, it will expire on August 15 of the following year. Decals purchased during the spring or summer semesters expire on August 15 of the same year. A new decal is not needed during the school year unless the decal is lost, damaged, on a vehicle that is no longer being driven to campus, or is needed for a new vehicle that will be driven on campus.
FALSIFICATION OF VEHICLE REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Providing false vehicle registration information or displaying an invalid decal will result in student conduct action.
PARKING ZONE REGULATIONS
Campus parking areas are designated as specific zones in order to eliminate inter-campus use of motor vehicles. The decals issued for motor vehicle registration indicate the areas open to individual motor vehicle operators. Parking zone regulations are in force between the hours of 6 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Motor vehicles assigned a decal may be parked in available legal space found in the Sheffield- Woolley Residence Hall and Davis Hall parking lots on the Raymond Campus.
The College reserves the right to regulate the use and operation of any motor vehicle on the campuses, lake and golf course areas and any and all other lands owned or controlled by the college and to forbid the use of any motor vehicle by any person whose conduct in any way demonstrates a failure to comply with or obey the Hinds Community College motor vehicle rules and regulations.
Note: Students and visitors are prohibited from parking in any faculty/staff parking zone or labeled space and may be cited and/or towed at their expense.

PARKING REGULATIONS

1. PARKING RESPONSIBILITIES

• It is the motor vehicle operator’s responsibility to park in a legal space. Lack of parking space is not considered a valid excuse for violation of parking regulations. Hinds Community College does not guarantee available parking. Vehicles not parked in a legal parking space are subject to citation or may be towed at their own expense.
• Regardless of who may be operating the vehicle at a particular time, the individual who registers a motor vehicle with Hinds Community College is responsible for that motor vehicle at all times.
• Citations noted against an unregistered motor vehicle will be the responsibility of the student whose family, legal guardian, or who has him/her self-leased, purchased, licensed, or used the vehicle for transportation to, from, or on campus. Thus, the student and/or owner/lessee of the vehicle will get the ticket.

2. AUTHORIZATION

• The Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police has the authority to permit vehicles to be parked in areas not customarily used for parking.
• Parking citations may be issued by any traffic and/or parking control officer designated by the Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police.

C. VISITORS: The privilege of a visitor to park on campus shall not be confined to those spaces specifically reserved for such parking by signs, but shall extend to any commuter or faculty parking space. This does not, however, relieve the visitor from obeying all other Hinds Community College motor vehicle parking rules and regulations.
D. Full-time and part-time students, who are also part-time employees, shall purchase the appropriate student decal.
E. TWO-WHEELED VEHICLES: Motorcycles, motor scooters and motorbikes are not to be parked in buildings, near doorways or entrances to buildings, on sidewalks, on grassed areas, at places where sidewalks intersect streets, at any other places where signs indicate parking restrictions or are not legal parking spaces.
F. UNAUTHORIZED DECAL: Displaying a current valid decal on any vehicle for which it was not originally issued is strictly prohibited and will subject the owner/operator of such vehicle to student conduct action by the proper administrative authorities. When such a violation occurs, the decal shall be returned to the Campus Police Department for cancellation, and no refund or transfer of the decal will be allowed.
G. STUDENT CONDUCT REFERRAL: Persistent and or flagrant violation(s) of Hinds Community College Motor Vehicle Rules and Regulations may be referred for appropriate student conduct action.
H. MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS: Two or more parking violations committed at the same time may be cited by the witnessing officer on a single issued parking citation.
I. REMOVE, IMPOUND, IMMOBILIZE :

1. The College reserves the right to remove, impound or immobilize any illegally parked or abandoned vehicle; any vehicle found on campus without a decal or with an unauthorized, altered or improperly displayed decal; any vehicle with no license plate; or any vehicle parked in such a manner as to constitute a serious hazard to vehicular or pedestrian traffic or the movement and operation of emergency equipment. The registered owner shall be responsible for all costs involved in the removing, impounding, immobilizing and/or storing of such vehicles. The COLLEGE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE in any manner for any damages to such vehicle(s) occurring during the removal, impounded, or immobilization thereof.
2. An abandoned vehicle is defined as any vehicle left unattended on Hinds Community College campuses, grounds, and/or roads for a period of thirty (30) days. Abandoned vehicles will be towed away and disposed of by the Hinds Community College Campus Police Department or its agents. Hinds Community College and/or its agents shall make a reasonable effort to identify and notify the owner of an abandoned vehicle of its removal and impounded. Hinds Community College and/or its agents or employees shall not be liable in any manner for any damage to an abandoned vehicle occurring during the removal, impounded and/ or storage.
3. The parking fines listed below are for 1st offenses. Each secondary offense for the same violation will result in an increase in the fine. The 2nd offense for the same violation will carry a fine of $75. The 3rd offense for the same violation will carry a fine of $100 and the penalties listed below in the “note” section.

PARKING VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES

***Parking violations may also be cited by Campus Police Officers or by officers from city or county jurisdictions on a Uniform Arrest Citation which is returnable to the appropriate County Justice Court or City Municipal Court.

NOTE: Any person cited for the same parking offense (3) three times could face the possibility of having his/her vehicle towed from the property of Hinds Community College at his/her own expense. In addition to the vehicle being towed, the owner/driver of said vehicle could face student conduct charges through the office of the Dean of Student’s office.

PARKING CITATION APPEALS
A. TRAFFIC APPEALS

1. Any person cited by use of a College Administrative citation form (not a uniform arrest citation) for violating any of the preceding regulations shall be entitled to an administrative hearing before the Traffic Appeals Committee. The officer witnessing the violation may be required to appear before the Traffic Appeals Committee. The failure of any individual to appear and contest any action against him/her shall be considered a waiver of his/ her right to a hearing. The findings of the Traffic Appeals Committee shall be final unless a timely appeal from its ruling is made to the Associate Vice President of Student Services.
2. Persons wishing to contest a violation cited on a Uniform Arrest Citation must appear before the appropriate municipal or county court on the date and time indicated on the arrest citation.

B. PROCEDURES

1. Persons wishing to appeal a College administrative citation must register their appeal with the office of the Dean of Students’ office within three (3) school days of the issuance of the citation in order to arrange an appeal date. If no suitable arrangement can be established for the accused to appear before the Traffic Appeals Committee, the accused will be afforded the option of submitting a written appeal to the Appeals Committee. A written appeal must be submitted to the office of the Dean of Students’ office within five (5) school days of the issuance of the citation and shall be reviewed by the Appeals Committee at the next scheduled meeting date. The accused shall receive notice of the Traffic Appeals Committee ruling upon request.
2. Persons wishing to appeal the findings of the Traffic Appeals Committee may do so after registering an appeals request with the Dean of Students’ office within five (5) school days of the Traffic Appeals Committee ruling. The accused is again afforded the option of submitting a written appeal, but such an appeal must be received no later than five (5) school days after the Traffic Appeals Committee ruling on the original appeal.

MOVING VIOLATIONS
A. All motor vehicle accidents occurring on Hinds Community College property must be reported immediately to a Hinds Community College Campus Police Department.
B. Procedures governing an administrative disposition of moving violations shall be the same as those governing the disposition of parking/registration violations. Refer to the section titled “Parking Citation Appeals.”
C. Traffic violations which occur on Hinds Community College campuses, grounds, and/or roads but which are punishable in a local Court are subject to College administrative student conduct action.
D. The following citations issued for moving violations may be returnable to the appropriate Municipal or Justice Court:

1. Driving while intoxicated or under the influence of a mind altering drug.
2. Failure to obey a lawful order given by any law enforcement officer.
3. Reckless operation of a motor vehicle.
4. Leaving the scene of a traffic accident.
5. Failure to yield to or stop for an emergency vehicle displaying emergency lights/siren/horn.
6. Speeding in excess of posted speed limits or in reckless disregard for existing conditions of weather visibility or vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic.
7. Disregarding traffic signals, signs, flagmen, or law enforcement officers attempting to direct traffic.
8. Passing on any College-maintained road or thoroughfare.
9. Operating a motor vehicle without a license on any Hinds Community College- maintained road, street or thoroughfare.
10. Operating a motorcycle, motor scooter or other motorized open vehicle without a Department of Transportation-approved crash helmet being worn by both operator and passenger.
11. Failure to possess a valid motor vehicle operator’s license.

E. Administrative penalties for moving violations may consist of community service and/or monetary fines. All fines are payable only in the Finance Aid Office.
F. In addition to any other stated rule or regulation, all state laws pertaining to any act which if committed within the State of Mississippi would be criminal and punishable shall also be criminal and punishable on Hinds Community College campuses, grounds, and roads as authorized by §37-29-275. Mississippi Code of 1972 amended.