CA - Liz Hamel, 18, UC Santa Barbara Student falls to her death from dorm breezeway 20 minutes after leaving restaurant with unknown male, 14 Feb 2025

[appleatcha]

The UC Santa Barbara LE were the ones who investigated this case as the fall took place on the UC Santa Barbara campus which is their jurisdiction. That's likely the conflict of interest. They are employed by the University of California at Santa Barbara.

But there could be other factors as well, as you mention.

University police investigating a potential crime that happened on a University campus is their job. That isn't a conflict of interest.