Robbie's Law Signed By Governor Bredesen-Quick Time Movie (April 26, 2004; approx. 2 MB download) PDF Version Of The "Robert 'Robbie' Nottingham Campus Crime Scene Investigation Act of 2004" (Public Chapter 533) High-Resolution Picture Of Robbie Nottingham Suitable For Publication (January 2003)

Nashville, TN-Landmark legislation known as "Robbie's Law" requiring Tennessee's colleges and universities to call in local police on death and rape investigations was signed into law by Governor Phil Bredesen (D) Monday afternoon during a public ceremony. According to campus security experts it is the first law in the country to require campus and local police to actually work together to investigate serious crimes on campus.

The new law, which took effect upon being signed, is named in memory of Robbie Nottingham who was killed by head trauma, apparently after falling from the second story of his on-campus apartment at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) during the early morning hours of March 21, 2003. A campus police investigation, however, was unable to conclusively determine what happened the night of his death. This led to calls by his family, who believes foul play was involved, for an outside investigation. They also fought for this new law to ensure that campus police would always call in more experienced investigators for help in the most serious of campus crimes.

Nottingham's parents, Jim and Mary, who worked with the bill's sponsors, State Representative Nathan Vaughn (D-Kingsport) and State Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville), along with S. Daniel Carter, Senior Vice President of the national non-profit organization Security On Campus, Inc., to develop the legislation, thanked the Governor for signing the bill, and those who supported it.

"Mary and I are very happy that 'Robbie's Law' is now law in Tennessee," said Jim Nottingham, who along with other members of his family and the legislation's sponsors participated in the signing ceremony. "We hope that, in some way, this will help to make college campuses across the state safer places, and in other states in the future."

"Robbie belonged to the ROTC and in doing so would have served and protected our country, if not for his tragic death," added Nottingham. "Maybe with this legislation his goal of protecting others can still be accomplished."

Under the new law college and university police and security departments will call in local police agencies to jointly investigate all deaths on campus that do not occur in a hospital or other medically supervised setting, and all alleged rapes. Local police will take the lead on death investigations, and campus police will take lead on rape investigations.

Robbie's parents were thanked by legislators for championing this important issue. "During passage of the bill, the Nottinghams worked tirelessly in an effort to ensure that no other parent should ever have to go through what they did," said Sen. Burchett, the bill's lead sponsor in the State Senate.

"This law is designed to provide complete and thorough investigations on our college and university campuses whenever a serious crime is committed," Burchett continued. "This puts a much better statute on the books in order to provide a safer and more secure environment for college students and campus employees."

"While other states have required campus and local police to establish working agreements, this is the first law to actually require them to work together to investigate serious crimes," said Carter of Security On Campus, Inc. "This is a very fitting memorial for Robbie Nottingham."

"This first of its kind law in the nation continues Tennessee's long history of leadership in campus safety," said State Representative Jamie Hagood (R-Knoxville), a co-sponsor of the bill. "Parents need to know when they send their children away to school we will do everything we can to protect them. This includes ensuring that serious crimes receive the same type of criminal investigation they would if they happened in the larger off campus community."

"I believe we are developing a model for this country in terms of what ought to happen in any type of serious crime that occurs on a college campus, such as a death or a rape," said Rep. Vaughn, the bill's lead sponsor in the State House. "This is the way it ought to be done."

The "Robert 'Robbie' Nottingham Campus Crime Scene Investigation Act of 2004" (HB 2753, SB 2797) has been designated Public Chapter 533 by the Tennessee Secretary of State.