NRLEA

Campus Law Enforcement

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 non-sworn 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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