Request By:
Mr. Bill Wolfe
Editorial Assistant
College Heights Herald
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General as to whether campus police at Western Kentucky University may legally use wheel locks. You state that wheel locks are devices used to immobilize cars where they are parked; that the campus police apply a wheel lock to a car after it has been cited for illegal parking and has accumulated five unpaid citations; that they are removed once the owner of the car contacts the Department of Public Safety for a short talk; that the Department does not require that the citations be paid before the locks are removed.
KRS 164.975 provides, in part, as follows:
"(1) The governing boards of public institutions of higher education, each having the power and authority to govern and control the method and purpose of use of property owned or occupied by their respective institution, including travel over such property, is each hereby confirmed in its authority to regulate the traffic and parking of motor vehicles, bicycles or other vehicles as well as the traffic of pedestrians on, over and across the streets, roads, paths and grounds of real property owned, used or occupied by such institution. Such regulations applicable to traffic and parking may include, but not be limited to, the following provisions:
"(a) Provisions governing the registration, speed, operation, parking and times, places and manner of use of motor vehicles, bicycles and other vehicles.
"(b) Provisions prescribing penalties for the violation of such regulations, which penalties may include the imposition of reasonable charges, the removing and impounding (at the expense of the violator) of vehicles which are operated or parked in violation of such regulations, and the denial of permission to operate vehicles on the property of such institution."
We believe that the above quoted statute gives full authority to the safety and security department of a state university to control traffic and parking on campus streets by any reasonable means. We see nothing unreasonable about the use of wheel locks as described. We have found no reported cases ruling on the common practice of towing away illegal parked vehicles and requiring the owner or driver to pay the towing fee before he can reclaim his vehicle. Certainly the use of wheel locks is much less drastic and costly. We do not believe that it is sufficient impingement upon a property right to raise due process issues under the State or Federal Constitution.
We would point out that the University bears a different relationship to students than it does to the members of the general public. We think, however, that whether the owner of the vehicle is a student or a visitor to the campus, the legal consequences are the same in this case.
You do not state whether the wheel lock is applied only when the vehicle is illegally parked or if it may be applied when found legally parked but with five unpaid citations against it. If the latter is the case, we believe that it should be possible to find another way of getting the owner's attention in regard to his unpaid citations. If the wheel lock is applied only when the vehicle is found illegally parked, we think the University would be justified in immobilizing the vehicle on the first offense as well as when five unpaid citations have been made against it.