Students do not have a good understanding of their legal rights when dealing with police officers, according to four UW-Madison engineering students who have created an organization and a Web site that aims to address that problem.
UW-Madison seniors Constantino Girat, David Schmidt, Erik Taske and junior Joseph Dickerson established the Associated Students Understanding the Law for their Engineering Professional Development class.
Taske said ASUL is primarily intended for freshmen and other students who hear conflicting versions of the law.
UW Police Captain Dale Burke said police officers dealt on a daily basis with students who have a misunderstanding of the law.
About half the time, students think they have rights that they actually do not, he said. The other half, believe they don't have rights they actually do, he added.
While he stressed that UW police officers would never deny an individual his rights, when asked if cops ever take advantage of students who do not completely understand the law, Burke responded \absolutely.""
""We wouldn't be very smart if we didn't use it to our advantage,"" Burke said of acquiring information from students who are unaware of their right to refuse consent. ""Our job isn't to educate everybody on the law.""
Burke said the best advice when unsure of one's legal rights would be to ask the officer.
Taske said the organization will not provide legal advice on an individual basis but will post city statutes on their Web site and offer easy-to-understand interpretations of the law.
""We're not trying to be lawyers or student lawyers or anything like that, but we're definitely a resource,"" Taske said.
David Schultz, a UW-Madison law professor who said he had a brief meeting with two students who developed ASUL, said he advocated educating students about the extent of their individual rights and also acknowledged that police officers can infringe upon these freedoms when individuals are unaware of the law.
""I'm sure that happens sometimes,"" Schultz said. ""I don't know that it happens often or in Madison. Madison cops, especially, are pretty sharp and know what they're doing. Certainly elsewhere in the country officers take advantage of people's ignorance, I think.""
Taske said he believes his organization will have ""staying power,"" adding that the group received strong support from the Associated Students of Madison. In addition, he said the group is seeking assistance from law students for interpretation of legal codes.
The ASUL Web site aims to clarify the statutes regarding disorderly conduct, searches, self defense and drug classifications. It also provides advice for homeowners when an officer seeks to investigate a house party.
For more information on ASUL go to http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~asul/.
