NCJ Number
139602
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: (1992) Pages: 85-104
Date Published
1992
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Campus police are discussed in terms of their history, comparisons with municipal police, and results of a pilot study of campus police at 10 large universities located in the midwest and southeast.
Abstract
Campus policing has evolved from an unsophisticated "watchman" system initiated in 1894 to protect university property to a system based on modern law enforcement techniques. The mailed survey received responses from 361 campus police officers from the 10 universities that had agreed to take part in the survey. The 6-part survey gathered information regarding the agency's characteristics, situations in which officers might become involved, officer decisionmaking, officer attitudes toward students, officer perceptions of their roles, and their personal attitudes and work attitudes. Results revealed that the campus police agencies and their personnel are similar to municipal police departments and their personnel. Campus officers are apparently aware of the need to maintain good relations with students and generally expressed favorable attitudes toward students. A majority believed that only a small number of students were responsible for most of the trouble caused by students and that "outsiders" posed the greatest threat to campus security. Notes, summary of recent literature on campus police, and 20 references