Brian A. Reaves, Ph.D., Bureau of Justice Statistics

January 20, 2015    NCJ 248028

Presents findings from a BJS survey of campus law enforcement agencies covering the 2011-12 academic year. The report focuses primarily on 4-year colleges and universities enrolling 2,500 or more students. Agencies serving public and private campuses are compared by number and type of employees, agency functions, arrest jurisdiction, patrol coverage, agreements with local law enforcement, requirements for new officers, use of nonlethal weapons, types of computers and information systems, community policing initiatives, use of special units and programs, and emergency preparedness activities.

Highlights:

• About 75% of the campuses were using armed officers, compared to 68% during the 2004-05 school year.
• About 9 in 10 public campuses used sworn police officers (92%), compared to about 4 in 10 private campuses (38%).
• Most sworn campus police officers were authorized to use a sidearm (94%), chemical or pepper spray (94%), and a baton (93%).
• Most sworn campus police officers had arrest (86%) and patrol (81%) jurisdictions that extended beyond campus boundaries.
• About 7 in 10 campus law enforcement agencies had a memorandum of understanding or other formal written agreement with outside law enforcement agencies.

Part of the Campus Law Enforcement Series

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