NCJ Number
204439
Journal
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Volume: 26 Issue: 4 Dated: 2003 Pages: 612-639
Date Published
2003
Length
28 pages
Annotation
Using 1995 data from the U.S. Justice Department's Law Enforcement Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) program, this study examined issues related to the structure of campus police organizations.
Abstract
The analysis examined whether the structures of campus police organizations are similar to the structures of large, municipal police agencies; how internal and external factors help shape the organizational features of campus police departments; and if the structure of campus police organizations is similar to that of large municipal police departments, what explains this adaptation. The 1995 Survey of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics focused on the features of campus police agencies at all 4-year postsecondary institutions in the United States with 2,500 or more students. The survey was based on the LEMAS program, which has collected similar data from national samples of State and local law enforcement agencies many times since 1987. A total of 682 institutions met the requirements for inclusion in the survey. Data were analyzed on variables that related to organizational structure, internal agency characteristics, and environment. The findings indicate that campus police agencies have a structure similar to that of municipal police agencies. Further, few environmental variables affected the organizational structure of campus police departments. This suggests that the campus context exerts far less of an effect on the organizational structure of campus police agencies than the community context exerts on municipal agencies' organizational structure. In the search for a professional identity, both from the perspective of the campus community and their municipal counterparts, campus police agencies may have copied existing organizational models of policing. Even in the variations noted in campus police agencies, they still reflect some aspect of trends that are occurring in municipal policing, such as community policing. There is no indication that campus police agencies have sought to develop a separate and distinct organizational model based on any distinctive conception of their campus mission or campus environment. Future research on campus police should examine the links between the formal structures of the organization and the behavioral tendencies of the officers. 4 tables, 20 notes, and 62 references