Awards

Requirements

This award is presented posthumously to honor a campus public safety officer killed in the line of duty.  For the purpose of this award, public safety or security officer means an individual involved in crime control or reduction and who is directly employed by an institution of Higher Education’s Public Safety or Security Department. “Line of duty” means any action which an officer is obligated or authorized by law, rule, regulation, written condition of employment service to perform, or for which the officer is compensated by the agency he or she serves. The term “killed in the line of duty” means an employee of a Public Safety or Security Department who has died as a direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty. This includes victim public safety or security officers who, while in an off-duty capacity, act in response to a law violation. This includes victims employed by a Public Safety or Security Department who, while in an off-duty capacity, are actually en route to or from a specific emergency or responding to a particular request for assistance; or the officer is, as required or authorized by law or condition of employment, driving his/her employer’s vehicle to or from work; or when the officer is, as required by law or condition of employment, to drive his/her own personal vehicle at work and is killed while en route to or from work.
 
Not included under this definition are deaths attributed to natural causes, except when the medical condition arises out of physical exertion, while on duty, that is required by law or condition of employment including but not limited to:

• Running or other types of exercise being performed as part of training programs administered by the employing agency;
• Fitness tests administered by the employing agency;
• Lifting of heavy objects; or
• A specific stressful response to a violation of law or an emergency situation causing an officer’s death immediately or within 24 hours of violation or emergency situation, or causing his/her death during a continuous period of hospitalization immediately following the specific response to the specific stressful response to the violation of law or emergency situation.

Stressful responses include, but are not limited to, the following:

• A physical struggle with a suspected or convicted criminal;
• Performing a search and rescue mission that requires rigorous physical activity;
• Performing or assisting with emergency medical treatment;
• Responding to a violation of the law or emergency situation that involves a serious injury or death; or
• A situation that requires either a high-speed response or pursuit on foot or in a vehicle.

Also not included under this definition are deaths attributed to voluntary alcohol or controlled substance abuse, deaths caused by the intentional misconduct of the officer, deaths caused by the officer’s intention to bring about his or her own death and deaths attributed to an officer performing his/her duty in a grossly negligent manner at time of death.

If you have questions about this award and/or eligibility, please contact Jerry Murphy, jmurphy@iaclea.org.