Campus Law Enforcement Research Articles

Make diversity, bias training a positive experience

LAS VEGAS — “This is a training about how to make diversity training and bias training palatable to law enforcement,” Lewis Eakins, Ph.D., CPP, Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, said. Eakins spoke at the recent annual conference for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

How to make your diversity, bias training a positive experience

How to make your diversity, bias training a positive experience

How to make your diversity, bias training a positive experience

LAS VEGAS — “This is a training about how to make diversity training and bias training palatable to law enforcement,” Lewis Eakins, Ph.D., CPP, Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, said. Eakins spoke at the recent annual conference for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

Understand how FERPA applies to sex offender registries

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act governs how student records may be used and disclosed. For campus law enforcement and safety officers, records governed by FERPA may include records pertaining to student conduct and the intersection with other records such as a sex offender registry.

Make diversity, bias training a positive experience

LAS VEGAS — “This is a training about how to make diversity training and bias training palatable to law enforcement,” Lewis Eakins, Ph.D., CPP, Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, said. Eakins spoke at the recent annual conference for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

Make diversity, bias training a positive experience for your officers

LAS VEGAS — “This is a training about how to make diversity training and bias training palatable to law enforcement,” Lewis Eakins, Ph.D., CPP, Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, said. Eakins spoke at the recent annual conference for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

Creating law to seek information and protect the public

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act governs how student records may be used and disclosed. For campus law enforcement and safety officers, records governed by FERPA may include records pertaining to student behavior and how it may intersect with records such as sex offender registry.

Crime and place: differences in spatial relationship between calls for service and recorded incidents for municipal and campus law enforcement

ABSTRACT With the advent of more law enforcement open data, researchers are exploring the use of calls for service (CFS) as a proxy for recorded incident information by law enforcement. However, indications are that law enforcement activities are mediated by the agency’s goals with its data. Using data from two different types of law enforcement agencies within the same community, CFS and incident reports for property crimes were tested for spatial association using the co-location quotient. Findings from this study show there is a modest amount of detectable clustering of CFS for the municipal law enforcement agency. However, the large university campus agency did not show any detectable spatial association for these events. This suggests that the movement towards using open data in research will need to take greater care in the selection of data to understand if assumptions about the data can be supported.

Community policing and the organizational structure of campus law enforcement agencies

PurposeThe 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.Design/methodology/approachThis 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).FindingsFindings 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.Research limitations/implicationsUse 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.Originality/valueThis 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.

Fast‐track accreditation with strong team buy‐in, policy reviews

Typically, it takes about three years for a college or a university to receive accreditation from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. But for Stephen F. Austin University police department, the process took six months.

Legally compliant diversity initiatives can eliminate bias in hiring

As institutions continue to evaluate and grow their diversity, equity, and inclusion plans, it is imperative to consider how both overt and unconscious bias may affect the hiring and recruitment process of staff, including campus law enforcement.

Ready, willing, and able: California college campus law enforcement officers’ respond to the opioid overdose attitudes scale

BackgroundCollege campus police departments are providing law enforcement officers the authority to administer naloxone, the antidote to opioid overdose. This study explored the competence, concerns, and readiness among college campus-based law enforcement officers in Northern California to administer naloxone in case of an opioid overdose on campus. Methods: Using a quantitative, cross sectional design, law enforcement officers from seven Northern California college campus-based police departments were recruited for this study. Participants completed sociodemographic information and the Opioid Overdose Attitudes Scale (OOAS) electronically. Results: Forty law enforcement officers completed questionnaires. Findings suggested officers were ready and willing to assist opioid overdose victims, had sufficient naloxone administration training, and were not concerned with consequences of precipitating withdrawal symptoms or harm to a student after administering naloxone. Conclusions: College campus-based law enforcement officers had positive attitudes regarding handling opioid overdose situations and felt mostly comfortable administering naloxone.

Work with municipal stakeholders to empower your officers to enforce local health ordinances

The hard work of preventing the spread of COVID‐19 has given campus law enforcement new challenges, but it has also offered opportunities to collaborate with other agencies in productive ways. Many college campuses are embedded within a larger urban or suburban environment. Therefore, consistency in the nature and enforcement of health measures is important for the well‐being of the entire community. That goal was part of the thinking behind Penn State University's decision to give its campus police officers the authority to enforce the public health ordinance passed by the Borough of State College in August.

Crime prevention on college campuses: correlates of problem-solving, environmental design, and anti-fear efforts by campus law enforcement

The current study examines factors related to crime prevention activity by law enforcement agencies serving institutions of higher education throughout the USA. Identifying facilitators and barriers to the implementation of crime prevention programs and practices will be useful to proponents of these approaches. Using data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics from a large sample of agencies throughout the USA, we identify factors that are related to applied forms of crime prevention, including crime prevention through environmental design, problem-oriented policing, use of SARA, having a crime prevention unit within the agency, and participation in anti-fear campaigns. Particular attention is placed on the effects of campus characteristics, agency characteristics, campus crime, precautionary actions, and other law enforcement precautionary activities. Results suggest that, overall, more task-oriented agencies are also more likely to engage in crime prevention activity, although the determinants of crime prevention varied by activity.

Campus proactively strengthens relationship with marginalized communities

“I've been in law enforcement my entire adult life,” Margo Bennett, Chief of Police for the University of California, Berkeley, said. After graduating from the University of West Georgia with a master's degree in psychology, and rising to the rank of lieutenant in the campus police force there, Bennett worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special agent for several years before returning to campus law enforcement. In 2002, she was hired as the Chief of Police at Berkeley. “You want to go through some exciting times in life, come to Berkeley,” Bennett said.

Consider campus culture, relationship building when reviewing use‐of‐force policies

Recent events like the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have resulted in a reassessment of the limits of law enforcement power, especially in terms of the reasonable use of force. And campus law enforcement agencies are not exempt from these discussions. However, proactive strategies and a renewed focus on community‐oriented policing have helped many campus agencies stave off the most disruptive dynamics that are rippling through law enforcement today. While COVID‐19 has put some initiatives on pause (and reduced the on‐campus student population), careful consideration of the use of force by campus law enforcement is continuing.

Campus law enforcement: the relationship between emergency preparedness and community policing

PurposeThe 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.Design/methodology/approachUsing 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.FindingsCommunity 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.Research limitations/implicationsThis 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.Practical implicationsThe 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.Originality/valueThis 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.

Build your professional network to benefit your work

Vance Rice, Chief of Police of Mississippi State University, has always worked in campus law enforcement, but his relationship to higher education changed when he wanted to make the leap from being an officer to being hired somewhere as a police chief. “When I started at [the University of] Arkansas [Police Department], I didn't have any college credits whatsoever,” Rice said.

Merging resources: For survival or success

Recently, I enjoyed the opportunity to watch a program that looked back at the process and negotiations that brought the National Football League and the American Football League together by the end of the 1960s. The program made me consider how lessons learned from the merger applied to campus law enforcement.

Take steps to address public safety challenges common among international students

International students present unique challenges for campus public safety units. In a webinar for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, Ed Book, chief of police, behavioral intervention team chair, and emergency manager at Santa Fe College in Florida; and Angelica Suarez, international student services coordinator at Santa Fe, explained the strategies they use to support these students and meet their needs.