BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Campus Law Enforcement
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Campus law enforcement officers patrol colleges and universities, providing a quicker response time to incidents on campus than local police, and offer campus-specific services not necessarily available from local policing organizations.  Campus police forces can be comprised of both sworn police officers and non-sworn security officers.  Campus law enforcement agencies can have state, county, or city wide jurisdiction; others are limited to campus property.  These findings are based on the 2004-05 survey of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies (CLEA).

Summary findings

  • During the 2004-05 school year, the 750 agencies surveyed had more than 25,000 full-time employees, including about 13,000 sworn personnel. 
  • Three-quarters of 4-year colleges and universities with 2,500 or more students were served by a campus law enforcement agency with sworn officers with full arrest powers.
  • During the 2004-05 school year, 31% of sworn campus officers were a racial or ethnic (Hispanic or Latino) minority.  Among agencies included in both the 1994-95 and 2004-05 surveys, minorities-blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and other minorities-increased from 27% to 30%; Hispanics increased from 4.4% to 6%.
  • Women comprised almost 17% of officers during the 2004-05 school year, an increase from 14% during the 1994-95 school year. 
  • 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 employ sworn officers and at nearly 1 in 10 agencies that relied on nonsworn officers only.
  • Nearly all campuses had 24-hour patrol, a 3-digit emergency number, and emergency blue-light phones.
  • About two-thirds (69%) of campus law enforcement agencies had incorporated community policing into their campus security policy. 
  • 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.

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Terms & Definitions

The Clery Act 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. Clery Act statistics are available on the Campus Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool site.
 
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