Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which community policing within campus law enforcement agencies is influenced by the organizational structure, agency characteristics and campus characteristics.

This study utilizes ordinary least squares regression modeling to examine community policing implementation. Data were drawn from a sample of 242 US colleges and universities included in the 2011–2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Survey of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies (SCLEA).

Findings show that within-campus law enforcement agencies, greater levels of community policing are associated with more formalization, larger numbers of employees, a higher task scope and higher rates of on-campus property crime.

Use of secondary data and reported crime rate limits the study. Future research should implement specialized surveys and qualitative methods to identify the specific needs and implementations of community policing.

This paper adds to the limited body of literature on the community policing in campus law enforcement through more recent data and the inclusion of campus community variables.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between emergency preparedness and community policing within campus law enforcement agencies, as well as agency and campus characteristics that impact the level of emergency preparedness activities.

Using data from the 2011–2012 Survey of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies, this study employs ordinary least squares regression modeling to examine emergency preparedness and community policing relationships within 298 campus law enforcement agencies.

Community policing is the greatest predictor of emergency preparedness in campus law enforcement agencies. This finding refutes arguments that emergency preparedness and community policing are incompatible policing innovations.

This study is limited by the use of secondary data. Future research should utilize survey measures to better isolate the roles and functions of community policing and emergency preparedness.

The findings have implications for campus law enforcement agencies to view emergency preparedness and community policing activities as interrelated. Specifically, agency administration can benefit by taking a holistic approach to campus policing and preparedness.

This paper extends the current research in municipal policing to the campus police environment. This paper also adds to the limited body of literature on the relationships between community policing and emergency preparedness.

Provides a profile of state laws pertaining to campus police. Reveals wide variations across the USA. Notes that statutes are often the state legislature’s ad hoc response to a problem. Many campuses require their police to be deputized by the local police authorities. Finds that the majority of states grant police authority to officers at public institutions and that it is usual for the governing body or chief executive officer to have appointing authority over campus police. Suggests elements for a model campus police statute.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the nature of campus police and city police in the areas of human resource and select community policing practices and policies. This comparison serves as an update to the work of Bromley and Reaves (1998a, b) and Bromley (2003).

This paper utilizes the Bureau of Justice Statistics Campus Police Reports from 2012 and the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Reports from 2007 and 2013 to provide a comparison between campus and city departments in matters of human resource and community outreach policies and practices, paying special attention to demographics, salary, education, training, pre-employment screening, collective bargaining, community-policing, and special programs utilized.

The data suggest that, while differences do exist between campus and city practices, there are a substantial number of similarities between the two. In some areas, such as workforce diversity, campus police are somewhat ahead of their city counterparts. These findings indicate that campus departments are a primary piece of the larger law enforcement community.

Overall, the comparisons continue to reinforce the notion that campus departments are part of the larger law enforcement community. This information may provide insights for both campus and city police executives, as well as to top-level executives at institutions of higher education.

Purpose – A decade after the heinous act of moral turpitude at Virginia Tech, this chapter examines considerations of deterrence and mitigation for campus violence, and discusses the arming of campus police.

Design/methodology/approach – This chapter incorporates campus violence from a phenomenological perspective.

Findings – This chapter highlights the notion that no universal panacea exists toward abating violence among higher education settings. However, various preventive and control strategies may be employed to support the long-term campus safety initiatives of higher education institutions.

Originality/value – This chapter provides a commentary regarding preventive strategies, control strategies, and policy considerations for higher education institutions. It emphasizes the notion that all higher educations are unique, and must craft their own individual policies that satisfy the requirements of their specific situations.

Descriptive analyses of campus police agencies reveal that agencies’ tactical and operational features are similar to those found in municipal agencies. The problem is that none of these studies have examined, using multivariate models, the structural characteristics of these organizations. Using LEMAS data collected in 1995, this study answered two main questions: what are the organizational characteristics of campus police agencies; and what factors, both internal and external, explain variation in the structural dimensions of the agencies. The results indicated that campus police agencies possess the same structural characteristics of municipal police agencies identified by 40 years of police organizational research, and internal agency characteristics were most important in explaining variation in the organizations’ structural dimensions. The degree to which campus agencies have adopted organizational structures that are similar to those of municipal police is discussed and framed within an institutional perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a campus community’s knowledge and acceptance of their campus police as “real” police.

Using the liminality theoretical framework, this study surveyed students, faculty, staff, and administrators (n=1,484). Students were surveyed in-person, while staff, faculty, and administrators participated through an e-mail link to an online survey.

Results indicate that campus police are stuck in a liminal state. While 80 percent of the sample thought campus police should be armed, almost two-thirds (64 percent) did not know or were unsure of campus police officer tasks and three-quarters (75 percent) did not know or were unsure of campus police training requirements.

The participants come from one university campus, so the generalizability of the sample is limited.

This study provides more evidence of the marginalization of campus police. Specifically, this study highlights that a majority of participants could not or were unable to identify campus police officers’ training and duties. Instead of using small qualitative samples, this study utilized over 1,400 participants on one campus, which provides more explanatory power about the perception problems of the campus police. This study also continues to advance and expand liminal theory.

At present there is little comparative information available regarding campus and municipal police agencies and their personnel. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to examine the similarities and differences between municipal and campus police agencies with respect to various human resource characteristics and policies. The following research question guided the analysis: how do municipal and campus police agencies compare regarding the following human resource characteristics and policies: the proportion of sworn personnel, gender and race of sworn officers, salaries and benefits, educational requirements, levels of training required, drug testing policies and the extent of collective bargaining/unionization. The database is nationwide in scope. The findings of this study support the general notion that city and campus police departments are similar at least with respect to the human resource characteristics identified. Many campus departments have advanced well beyond the watchman era of campus policing. In a number of human resource areas such as use of civilians, education and training requirements, the campus police have progressed very well based on the comparisons made.

The literature on campus police (CP) is not as developed as mainstream or municipal police (MP). While there are several studies discussing the perception of CP, there are, however, no empirical studies investigating the perception of CP based on their legitimacy. Through the theoretical framework of liminality, this paper aims to address the literature gap by examining the perceived legitimacy of CP compared to MP.

Data were collected through the use of survey instruments distributed among 593 college undergraduates at a doctoral extensive land grant institution in the Pacific Northwest. Since the purpose of the study was to determine student perceptions of legitimacy between MP and CP, two surveys were utilized to capture those perceptions, one for each police group respectively. The two sets of surveys were equally administered in each selected class.

Through the framework of liminality, this research demonstrates the marginalization of CP as sworn law enforcement officers, especially when compared to their MP counterparts.

As this is the first study addressing the perceived legitimacy of the CP there needs to be further research in this area before substantial conclusions can be reached. Future research in this area should address the opinions of minority students, faculty and staff. Additionally, CP and MP officers themselves should be assessed to determine any potential legitimacy concerns based on perception.

The theoretical framework reveals that the CP are trapped in a liminal state and are unable to transition into perceived legitimate police officers.

An increase in the number of disruptive and violent events on college and university campuses instigated this review of the methods used to interrupt the trend, with the goal of identifying a preliminary model for systematic management of such threats. The intent is to instigate research, review and discussion in order to decrease the number and severity of threatening incidents on college campuses.

Thorough review of plans from primary and secondary education, plans in use in higher education, literature on risk and threat assessment, literature on “whistle blowers”, and of violent events on college campuses was used to construct a model.

It was found that, in terms of managing and reducing threats to people who study, live and work in post‐secondary educational institutions, insufficient attention has been given to the unique needs of this setting and therefore efforts to mitigate threats have been insufficient. The investigation resulted in the development of a model of assessment and management of threats on university and college campuses.

College campus threat assessment research is very much in its infancy and will certainly develop over time. This paper is the first step in an effort to develop and ultimately test the plausibility of a model. Future research should be pursued to determinewhether the model holds up under a majority of situations on college campuses. Those involved in threat mitigation in university settings should be queried to determine their agreement with the proposed framework and for assistance in refining it.

This paper presents suggestions for the systematic management of threats and mitigation in university settings.