U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report Campus Law Enforcement, 2004-05 February 2008, NCJ 219374 ---------------------------------------------------------- This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format (.csv) and the full report including tables and graphics in .pdf format are available from: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cle0405.htm This report is one in a series. More recent editions may be available. To view a list of all in the series go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pubalp2.htm#clea ----------------------------------------------------------- By Brian A. Reaves, Ph.D. BJS Statistician During the 2004-05 school year, 74% of the 750 law enforcement agencies serving 4-year universities and colleges with 2,500 or more students employed sworn law enforcement officers. These officers had full arrest powers granted by a state or local government. The remainder employed nonsworn security officers only. Nearly all public campuses(93%) used sworn officers compared to less than half of private campuses (42%). Two-thirds (67%) of campus law enforcement agencies surveyed used armed patrol officers during the 2004-05 school year. Armed patrol officers were used at nearly 9 in 10 agencies that employed sworn officers and at nearly 1 in 10 agencies that relied on nonsworn officers only. These findings come from the first survey of campus law enforcement agencies conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics since the 1994-95 school year. Among agencies included in both the 1994-95 and 2004-05 surveys, the percentage using sworn officers increased from 78% to 79% and the percentage using armed patrol officers increased from 66% to 72%. On campuses with 5,000 or more students, private campuses had a higher ratio of law enforcement employees to students than public campuses. Between the 1994-95 and 2004-05 surveys, comparable agencies increased their collective staffing levels from 2.8 full-time employees per 1,000 students to 3 per 1,000. Almost all campus agencies using sworn officers conducted criminal record checks, reference checks, background investigations, and driving record checks of applicants for sworn positions. About 80% of agencies used these preemployment screening methods when hiring nonsworn officers. Most agencies also used additional screening methods--such as psychological evaluations, written aptitude tests, physical agility tests, and medical exams--when hiring sworn officers. More than 9 in 10 agencies had a written emergency preparedness plan. During the 2004-05 school year, 58% of agencies participated in emergency preparedness exercises. Most agencies also used designated personnel to address a variety of crime and safety-related issues through prevention and education programs. During the 2004 calendar year, campus law enforcement agencies received on average 62 reports of serious violent crime per 100,000 students and 1,625 reports of serious property crime. Violent crime rates for private campuses were about twice that of public campuses; property crime rates were 48% higher. Between 1994 and 2004, campus crime rates decreased by 9% for violent crime and by 30% for property crime. Data by campus type and size and other detailed information are available in the Appendix tables on the BJS Website at . Three-quarters of campus law enforcement agencies used sworn officers with full arrest powers During the 2004-05 school year, 74% of campus law enforcement agencies serving 4-year campuses with 2,500 or more students employed sworn personnel with full arrest powers (table 1). Nearly 9 in 10 agencies that employed sworn personnel used armed patrol officers, accounting for 65% of all agencies. Less than 1 in 10 agencies that relied only on nonsworn officers used armed patrol officers, accounting for 2% of all agencies. Among agencies included in both the 1994-95 and 2004-05 surveys, the percentage of agencies that used armed patrol officers increased from 66% to 72%. The use of sworn personnel by campuses included in both surveys increased slightly, from 78% to 79% (figure 2). Ten campus law enforcement agencies had at least 155 full-time employees New York University had the largest agency with 345 full-time employees, followed by the University of Texas Health Science Center (Houston), Temple University (Philadelphia), and Howard University (Washington, D.C.). Largest sworn campus agency had 166 full-time officers The largest sworn campus law enforcement agency served Howard University, with 166 full-time officers, followed by Temple University (Philadelphia), University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (Newark), and George Washington University (GWU) (Washington, D.C.). Of the ten largest sworn campus agencies, GWU was the only agency that used unarmed patrol officers. Other large campuses patrolled by unarmed sworn officers included the University of Iowa (Iowa City), Iowa State University (Ames), Portland State University (Portland, OR), University of Oregon (Eugene), and Oregon State University (Corvallis) (not shown in table). New York University was the largest campus--with more than 39,000 students--to use nonsworn officers only. Other large 4-year campuses that used nonsworn officers only included the University of Southern California (Los Angeles), DePaul University (Chicago), and Columbia University (New York) (appendix table 2). Typically campus law enforcement agencies have working relationships with local law enforcement and draw on their resources when needed. Depending on the type of campus agency, examples of local support may include arresting suspects, investigating crimes, providing armed support in dangerous situations, or operating a police sub-station on campus. Among schools with 5,000 or more students, private campuses had more law enforcement employees per capita than public campuses During the 2004-05 school year, the 750 agencies surveyed had more than 25,000 full-time employees, including about 13,000 sworn personnel. These agencies served more than 8 million students. The average number of full-time employees was 34, with a range of 96 on the largest private campuses to fewer than 20 on the smallest campuses (table 2). Campuses had on average 3.8 full-time campus law enforcement employees per 1,000 students. Private campuses averaged 4.7 officers per 1,000 students compared to 3.3 per 1,000 on public campuses. Among schools with 5,000 or more students, private campuses had more law enforcement employees per capita than public campuses. Campuses using sworn officers employed on average 2.3 full-time officers per 1,000 students. Private campuses averaged 3 sworn officers per 1,000 students compared to 2.1 sworn officers per 1,000 students on public campuses. On campuses of 5,000 or more students, private campuses had a higher ratio of sworn officers to students than public campuses. Full-time agency employees increased from 2.8 to 3 per 1,000 students between 1994-95 and 2004-05 Campus law enforcement agencies included in both surveys increased the ratio of full-time employees to students between the1994-95 and 2004-05 school years. The overall law enforcement staffing ratio increased from 2.8 per 1,000 students to 3 per 1,000 students (figure 3). Among campus agencies using sworn officers, the overall ratio of officers to students increased from 1.7 to 1.8 per 1,000. In addition to total student enrollment, the number and type of employees in campus law enforcement agencies may be influenced by other factors such as campus land area, number of buildings, type of facilities (e.g., medical centers, stadiums, and arenas), number of full-time students, number of campus residents, number of school employees, characteristics of surrounding city and neighborhoods, and legislative statutes. Agencies served on average 11,000 students and campuses of 485 acres and 89 buildings On average, campuses included in this survey enrolled about 11,000 students and covered nearly 500 acres in land area (table 3). In terms of both average enrollment and average land area, public campuses were about twice as large as private campuses and included 37 more buildings on average. Private campuses (32%) had a higher percentage of students living on campus than public campuses (21%), a pattern that existed in all campus size categories. Nearly all campuses had 24-hour patrol, a 3-digit emergency number, and emergency blue-light phones All agencies serving public campuses with 10,000 or more students and those serving private campuses with 5,000 or more students reported having 24-hour patrol services (table 4). Overall 99% of private campus law enforcement agencies and 97% of public agencies provided 24-hour patrol services. Nearly all campuses had a 3-digit emergency phone number through a 6-1-1 on-campus system or a local 9-1-1 system. Most campuses (91%) also had blue-light emergency campus phones that provided direct access to campus law enforcement. More than 9 in 10 public and private campuses with 5,000 or more students had blue-light emergency phones compared to about 8 in 10 campuses with less than 5,000 students. Among campuses with a blue-light phone system, the average number of blue-light phones increased from 8 per 2,500 students in 1994-95 to 13 in 2004-05. Private campuses had 17 blue-light phones per 2,500 students compared to 12 for public campuses (not shown in table). Campus law enforcement agencies performed a wide range of functions Overall agencies serving the 100 largest campuses performed more of the functions asked about in the survey than agencies serving the 100 smallest campuses (See appendix table 1 for functions). More than 4 in 5 campus law enforcement agencies performed functions related to special events security (98%), dispatching calls for service (92%), traffic enforcement (89%), property crime investigation (86%), building lockup (85%), parking enforcement (84%), and violent crime investigation (81%) (table 5). Functions performed by a majority of agencies serving the smallest campuses, but not by a majority of agencies serving the largest campuses, included parking administration (87%), vehicle registration (84%), key control (60%), and fire prevention education (52%) (appendix table 1). Nearly half of the agencies serving large public campuses used in-field computers Overall about 1 in 4 (27%) campus law enforcement agencies used in-field computers during the 2004-05 school year (table 6). Nearly half (45%) of agencies serving public campuses with 15,000 or more students reported using in-field computers. The majority of agencies with in-field computers reported that patrol officers had in-field access to motor vehicle records (61%) and driving records (54%) (not shown in table). Less than half reported that patrol officers used in-field computers to access criminal history information (37%), calls-for-service records (24%), or linked files for crime analysis (13%). A majority of agencies reported that patrol officers had fixed-site computer access to various types of records and other information. A sixth of sworn campus officers were women During the 2004-05 school year, 31% of sworn campus officers were a racial or ethnic minority. A sixth (17%) of officers were women. Among agencies included in both the 1994-95 and 2004-05 surveys, women increased from 14% to 17% of officers (figure 4). Minorities--blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and other minorities--increased from 27% to 30%; Hispanics increased from 4.4% to 6%. Since 1994-95, starting salaries were up 5% for sworn officers but were unchanged for nonsworn officers Starting salaries for entry-level sworn officers averaged $30,600 for the 2004-05 school year, 5% more than in 1994-95 after adjusting for inflation (table 7). Average starting salaries ($22,300) for nonsworn officers were unchanged after adjusting for inflation. During 2004-05, starting salaries in agencies with collective bargaining rights, compared to those without, were 25% higher for sworn officers and 16% higher for nonsworn officers (not shown in table). About 1 in 6 agencies required new officers to have a college degree More than a quarter (28%) of all campus law enforcement agencies had some type of college education requirement for new officers. About 1 in 6 agencies required a 2-year (13%) or 4-year (3%) college degree. Agencies serving the largest public campuses required about 1,100 hours of training for new officers Agencies required on average more than 800 hours of training for new officers, including about 500 hours of academy training (table 8). Training requirements ranged from about 1,100 hours at the largest public campuses to about 400 at the smallest private campuses. Some of this variation was attributable to the use of sworn versus nonsworn officers. Training and education requirements were more stringent for sworn officers On average, agencies required sworn officers to complete more than 900 hours of training compared to about 200 hours for nonsworn officers. Education requirements were also more stringent for sworn officers, with 30% of agencies requiring newly hired sworn officers to have at least some college compared to 21% for nonsworn officers. About 1 in 6 agencies required sworn officers to have at least a 2-year degree, compared to about 1 in 10 agencies for nonsworn officers (not shown in table). Sworn officers were subjected to a wider range of preemployment screening methods Preemployment screening methods--background screening, personal screening, and physical screening--were used more frequently when hiring sworn officers than nonsworn officers (figures 5, 6, and 7). Most agencies conducted criminal record checks, background investigations, driving record checks, and personal interviews when hiring nonsworn officers while less than half used the other screening methods. Percent of campus law enforcement agencies performing selected functions by type of officers employed, 2004-05 Sworn police Nonsworn security only 90% or more--Routine patrol Routine patrol Special event security Building lockup/unlock Violent crime investigation Special event security Property crime investigation Parking enforcement Traffic enforcement Dispatching calls Dispatching calls 80%-89%--Arson investigation Access control Building lockup/unlock Parking administration Parking enforcement Monitor surveillance cameras Arena event security 70%-79%--Central alarm monitoring Arena event security Stadium event security Central alarm monitoring Access control Vehicle registration 50%-69%--Drug enforcement Key control Homicide investigation Traffic enforcement Monitor surveillance cameras Fire prevention education Parking administration Stadium event security Property crime investigation Nonsworn agencies were more likely to handle building security and parking-related duties Nearly all agencies provided routine patrol services, security for special events, and dispatch services. More than 9 in 10 agencies with sworn personnel also had primary responsibility for crime investigations. Nonsworn agencies were more likely than sworn agencies to handle functions related to building security and parking; a majority of sworn agencies also performed these functions. Nonsworn patrol officers were less likely than sworn officers to carry firearms, pepper spray, or batons Nearly 9 in 10 agencies with sworn officers (87%) used armed patrol officers compared to about 1 in 10 agencies using nonsworn officers only (9%). About 9 in 10 agencies also authorized sworn officers to carry pepper spray (92%) and batons (91%). Among agencies using nonsworn officers, about three-fifths authorized officers to carry pepper spray (61%), and about half, batons (49%). About 1 in 5 agencies authorized sworn officers to carry hand-held conducted energy devices such as Tasers or stun guns (20%). About 1 in 4 agencies authorized such devices for nonsworn officers (24%) (not shown in table). Community policing activities were more prevalent on public campuses than on private campuses About two-thirds (69%) of campus law enforcement agencies had incorporated community policing into their campus security policy (table 9). Most agencies (59%) assigned patrol officers to specific geographic areas on campus. About half had upgraded technology to support community policing efforts (51%) and collaborated with citizen groups, using their feedback to support community policing strategies (47%). Public campuses were more likely than private campuses to have implemented most of the community policing activities asked about in the survey. The largest differences were for student ride-a-long programs (49% public versus 22% private) and officer problem-solving projects (39% versus 23%). More than 80% of agencies met regularly with faculty, staff, and student groups Regular meetings with various groups played an important role in campus community policing efforts. During the 2004-05 school year, more than 80% of agencies serving public and private campuses met regularly with other law enforcement agencies (88%) and with on- and off-campus groups and organizations--such as student housing groups (86%), faculty/staff organizations (84%), and student organizations (83%)--to discuss crime and safety-related problems on campus (table 10). Agencies serving public campuses were more likely than those serving private campuses to meet regularly with fraternity and sorority groups, advocacy groups, and domestic violence groups to discuss crime and safety-related issues. In comparison agencies serving private campuses were more likely to meet regularly with neighborhood associations and religious groups to discuss crime-related issues on campus. About two-thirds of agencies had a written terrorism response plan About 9 in 10 campus law enforcement agencies had a written emergency preparedness plan (94%) and had met with campus administrators regarding emergency preparedness issues (89%) during the 2004-05 school year (table 11). Nearly 7 in 10 agencies had disseminated emergency preparedness information to the campus community (67%) and had a written plan on how to respond in the event of a terrorist attack (66%). A majority of agencies also conducted emergency preparedness exercises (58%), maintained intelligence sharing agreements with other law enforcement agencies (56%), and held campus meetings on emergency preparedness (55%). Nearly two-thirds of the agencies on public campuses had engaged in these activities compared to less than half of those on private campuses. Nearly half of all agencies had formed partnerships with culturally diverse organizations on- and off-campus to address emergency preparedness on campus (45%). About a fifth of agencies had conducted a campus anti-fear campaign (21%). Agencies serving private campuses were more likely to have written policies related to student judicial officers and residence life officials More than 9 in 10 campus law enforcement agencies had written policies and procedures regarding officer code-of-conduct (96%) and use of non-lethal force (91%) (table 12). About 8 in 10 had policies on handling citizen complaints (82%) and working with other law enforcement agencies (79%). Agencies serving public campuses were more likely to have written policies to address areas such as domestic disputes, off-duty employment, mentally ill persons, and racial profiling. Agencies serving private campuses were more likely to have written policies pertaining to student judicial officers and residence life officials. Agencies serving public campuses were more likely to have designated personnel to address specific campus crime and safety-related issues A majority of campus law enforcement agencies had designated personnel to address specific crime-related issues. On some campuses these personnel were assigned full-time to a specialized unit. About 8 in 10 agencies offered general crime prevention (83%) and rape prevention (78%) programs or had designated personnel to address these issues (table 13). About 7 in 10 agencies had designated personnel for self-defense training programs (69%) while a similar proportion offered drug (73%) and alcohol (67%) education programs. About 6 in 10 agencies had personnel to deal with victim assistance (62%) and stalking (60%). More than half had designated personnel to address cybercrime (54%) and hate crime (51%). Agencies serving public campuses were more likely than those on private campuses to have programs or designated personnel for each problem or task included in the survey. The largest differences between public and private campuses were in the areas of alcohol education, community policing, stalking, and cybercrime. Nearly all students at 4-year schools with 2,500 or more students had access to crime prevention programs Nearly 9 in 10 students were enrolled on a campus where campus law enforcement provided general crime prevention and rape prevention programs (figure 8). Forty percent of students were enrolled on a campus with a full-time dedicated crime prevention unit (not shown in figure). For each problem or task identified in the survey, 60% or more of all students were enrolled on a campus where personnel were designated to work at least part-time on that issue. Campus police were more likely than local police agencies to assess recruits' community-relations skills prior to hiring Campus law enforcement agencies with at least 10 but fewer than 100 full-time sworn officers were compared with local police departments in the same size range using data from the 2003 BJS Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Survey. Nearly all (96% or more) campus and local police agencies screened new officers through personal interviews, background investigations, reference checks, criminal record checks, and driving record checks (not shown in figures). A large majority of both local (86%) and campus (83%) police agencies required psychological evaluations of applicants (figure 9). Nearly two-thirds of local police (64%) required a written aptitude test compared to about half of campus police (52%). Local police were more likely than campus police to conduct physical screening of recruits, including medical exams (97% versus 85%), drug tests (86% versus 76%), and physical agility tests (65% versus 57%) (figure 10). Campus police were more likely than local police to assess recruits' community-relations skills (figure 11). This included assessments of analytical problem-solving skills (58% versus 37%), understanding of cultural diversity (57% versus 16%), and assessment of skills related to mediation and conflict management (42% versus 11%). Campus police were more likely than local police to have a college degree requirement for new officers Campus police were more likely to have a college education requirement for new officers. Campus police (91%) were also more likely than local police (57%) to have tuition waivers or reimbursements. While campus police required more education, local police required 11% more training, 1,092 hours versus 981 on average (not shown in table). Starting salaries for campus police officers were 6% lower than starting salaries for local police Starting salaries for entry-level campus law enforcement officers ($31,200) were 6% lower on average than for local police ($32,900) in similar size agencies. Starting salaries for campus police chiefs averaged $65,800, about 2% higher than for local police chiefs ($64,700) (not shown in table). Campus police agencies were more likely than local police agencies to provide shift differential, merit, and hazardous duty pay for sworn personnel. Local police were more than twice as likely as campus police to offer education incentive pay. Campus police were more likely to use computers for management functions; local police had more in-field computer capabilities Campus police agencies were more likely than local police agencies to use computers for management functions related to investigations, dispatch, interagency information sharing, resource allocation, fleet management, and crime mapping. Use of in-field computers was more prevalent among local police agencies than campus police agencies. Local police were more than twice as likely to provide officers in-field computer access to information such as motor vehicle records (51% versus 22%), driving records (47% versus 20%), criminal history records (29% versus 12%), and calls-for-service histories (26% versus 9%) (not shown in table). Use of in-field computers was more prevalent among local police agencies than campus police agencies. Local police were more than twice as likely to provide officers in-field computer access to information such as motor vehicle records (51% versus 22%), driving records (47% versus 20%), criminal history records (29% versus 12%), and calls-for-service histories (26% versus 9%) (not shown in table). The Clery Act and the reporting of campus crime The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act was signed into law in 1990. It requires institutions of higher education that participate in federal financial aid programs to keep and disclose information about crime on and near campus. The U.S. Department of Education monitors compliance. Violations can result in penalties of up to $27,500 per infraction and suspension from federal student financial aid programs. The Clery Act's major requirements include: *An annual campus security report must be published and distributed to current and prospective students and employees by October 1. *The campus police or security department must maintain a public log of all crimes reported or otherwise known to campus law enforcement officials. Institutions must give timely warning of crimes that represent a threat to student or employee safety. *Institutions must maintain statistics for the most recent three years for crimes committed on campus, in institutional facilities, in non-campus buildings, and on public property. Campuses must submit an annual report to the U.S. Department of Education. The report should include statistics on criminal homicide, sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The Clery Act does not require the reporting of larceny/theft data. The report must identify incidents believed to have been hate crimes. The reports must also include arrests and disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations, drug law violations, and illegal weapons possession. Clery Act statistics are available at . Violent crimes accounted for 4% of the serious crimes reported to law enforcement agencies serving 4-year campuses with 2,500 or more students during 2004, compared to 12% of all serious crimes reported nationwide (table 14). Murder on campus was rare, with a total of 16 reported, 0.1% of all murders nationwide (not shown in table). During 2004 campus law enforcement agencies received reports of 62 violent crimes per 100,000 students (figure 12). The violent crime rate was higher among private campuses (100) than public campuses (51), a pattern that existed in all campus size categories. Violent crime rates on campuses were far lower than the U.S. violent crime rate of 466 per 100,000 residents. Between the 1994 and 2004, violent crime rates on campuses decreased by 9%. Campus law enforcement agencies received reports of 1,625 property crimes per 100,000 students during 2004. Similar to violent crimes, the overall property crime rate per 100,000 students was higher on private campuses (2,212) than public campuses (1,493). This pattern was consistent across all size categories. Nationwide, the rate for reported serious property crimes was 3,517 per 100,000 residents. Compared to 1994, campus property crime rates were 30% lower in 2004. Methodology This report presents data covering the 2004-05 school year. Agencies serving 4-year U.S. universities and colleges with a fall 2004 enrollment of 2,500 or more, and those serving 2-year public colleges with a fall 2004 enrollment of 10,000 or more were surveyed. U.S. military academies and for-profit institutions were excluded. Data were collected in conjunction with the 2004 BJS Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies. The survey instrument was patterned after the BJS Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey. Data were collected describing campus law enforcement agencies, including personnel, expenditures and pay, operations, equipment, computers and information systems, policies, and special programs. BJS conducted an earlier survey of campus law enforcement agencies, covering the 1994-95 school year. The 1994-95 survey report, Campus Law Enforcement Agencies, 1995, is available at . Both the 1994-95 and 2004-05 reports focus primarily on 4-year campuses with some summary data describing 2-year campuses presented in appendix tables. The 2004-05 survey was initially conducted as a web-only data collection. Follow-up efforts provided agencies with fax and mail-in response options. The final response rate was 82%, with 749 of 913 potential respondents participating in the survey (tables 15 and 16). Nearly two-thirds (65%) of responses were received electronically through the survey website. The remainder were received by mail or fax. Among 4-year institutions, 606 of 750 agencies responded to the full survey, for a response rate of 81%. Among 2-year institutions, 143 of 163 agencies responded to the full survey, for a response rate of 88%. For agencies not responding to the full survey, an abbreviated survey instrument was used, giving agencies the opportunity to provide data on type and number of personnel, use of sworn officers, use of armed officers, physical campus characteristics, and number of crimes reported to campus law enforcement authorities. All non-respondents provided at least some of this information. Campus crime statistics were compiled using data from the BJS survey, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, and the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Security Statistics Website at . ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Jeffrey L. Sedgwick is director. This Special Report was written by Brian A. Reaves, Ph.D. Lynn Langton and Thomas H. Cohen, Ph.D., verified the report. Georgette M. Walsh edited the report, Tina Dorsey produced the report, and Jayne E. Robinson prepared the report for final printing, under the supervision of Doris J. James. February 2008, NCJ 219374 ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- This report in portable document format and in ASCII and its related statistical data and tables are available at the BJS World Wide Web Internet site: . ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Office of Justice Programs Innovation * Partnerships * Safer Neighborhoods http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- 02/20/2008/JR