NCJ Number
227524
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 57 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 62-64
Date Published
June 2009
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article presents arguments for and against having armed campus police.
Abstract
The article concludes that on any given campus, armed police may or may not be the best choice for improving campus safety, depending on threat and cost assessments. The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) offers a variety of "best practices" and other types of support in decisions about how to make a particular campus safer in the context of tight budgets. Having armed police may be a necessary policy at one institution and a waste of money at another institution. When it comes to protecting a campus, there is no single template that can be used as a panacea for all institutions. Many institutions have decided that the safety of their students and staff requires having an armed campus police force. The U.S. Department of Justice reported earlier this year that two-thirds of campus law enforcement agencies surveyed by the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics used armed patrol officers during the 2004-05 academic year. Nearly all public campuses used sworn officers compared to less than half of the private institutions surveyed. Other recent data show a trend toward armed police on American college and university campuses. There are a number of reasons for this trend. First, when the institution's police force already consists of sworn officers, arming them is the next logical step. Second, the local police agency or sheriff's department may not have the resources to provide the needed campus security. Third, given the potential for armed students on campus and recent incidents of mass killings on campus, armed police are needed to counter this threat. Fourth, courts have indicated that campus officials are legally obligated to provide the level of safety needed to counter threats to students and staff.