Lawmaker to seek public access to Notre Dame police records

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – A state lawmaker says he wants to change Indiana law to require private college police departments like the one at the University of Notre Dame to make their records public.

Democratic state Rep. B. Patrick Bauer of South Bend tells the South Bend Tribune he is frustrated by how Notre Dame has handled sexual assault cases reported to campus police. He plans to introduce legislation to require disclosure of such reports.

St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Steven Hostetler ruled last month in a lawsuit filed by ESPN that Notre Dame could withhold its police records.

But Hostetler expressed discomfort with the “notion that a private party can exercise police powers” without providing access to its records and suggested it was time for lawmakers to consider the issue.