Satisfaction with campus police services

College Student Journal, March, 2004 by James D. Griffith, Harry Hueston, Eddie Wilson, Casey Moyers, Christian L. Hart

Problem: Higher education has seen dramatic increases in student enrollments, diversity and crime rates during the past 25 years. These changes have created the need for new approaches from campus law enforcement agencies. There has been a movement toward community oriented policing (COP) policies and practices by campus police departments to address these changes. A vital step as part of a comprehensive COP strategy is to gather information from its community members. Method: This study collected survey responses from 557 students at a mid-sized university on information regarding victimization, contact with campus police, satisfaction with campus police services, and overall feeling of safety. Results: There was a low crime rate on campus and those that were a victim of crime did tend to report it to a university official. Students were highly satisfied with campus police services and felt safe on campus. Conclusions: This survey represents an initial step toward developing a foundation for a community policing initiative. Implications of the findings are discussed.

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There has been enormous growth in the number of students attending colleges and universities along with an increase in campus crime during the past 25 years (Smith, 1995). In fact, some large campuses with enrollments exceeding 30,000 have crime problems comparable to small cities (Nichols, 1995b; Smith, 1988). In addition to increasing enrollments and crime rates at institutions of higher education, there has also been an increase in the diversity on campuses with regards to race, ethnicity, gender, age, religious affiliation, and sexual orientation. Accordingly, campus police departments require flexible policing strategies that can best serve the diverse campus communities. One of the most critical aspects of effective policing involves the development and maintenance of a positive relationship between the police and the campus community that it serves. There has been a recent shift in policing such that campus law enforcement is becoming more proactive and less reactive such that the police and the community are becoming partners in crime prevention efforts. This approach has been referred to as community oriented policing (COP) and has been implemented by a growing number of campus police departments (Benson, 1995; Johnson, 1995; Nichols, 1995a; Riseling, 1995). A recent study (Reaves & Goldberg, 1996) reported that practices associated with COP that are being implemented by campus police departments include foot patrol, bike patrol, public education programs, crime prevention programs, and victim assistance programs.

In moving toward a COP approach, it is necessary step to receive input from members of the campus community (Peak & Glensor, 1999). Campus community opinion should be obtained concerning perceptions and satisfaction with campus law enforcement as a first step toward COP. Unfortunately, this practice is rare because campus police departments often do not have the resources or expertise to carry out such an endeavor. Thus, campus police departments typically have no data regarding campus community opinions and perceptions.

Public Perception of Police Services

A literature review identified two studies that have assessed community perception of campus police departments (Johnson & Bromley, 1999; Trojanowicz, Gleason, Poland, & Sinclair, 1988). The most recent study by Johnson and Bromley (1999) was carried out at a large suburban university in Florida with a campus enrollment exceeding 30,000 students. It was found that 9% of respondents were victims of crime with more than half (55%) reporting the crime to the police. Respondents indicated that sexual assault and assault and battery were the two most important type of criminal activity that the campus police should focus their investigative efforts. The majority of students (64%) indicated they did not know a police officer, although nearly one of four respondents participated in a campus police crime prevention program. Overall, the study reported some valuable findings that were used to guide COP strategies at that university.

The purpose of this study was to conduct an assessment of student perceptions of campus police services. This project was conducted in cooperation with the campus police department at a mid-sized regional university and was interested in the following information: victimization incidents and reporting, number and nature of contacts with the campus police department, satisfaction with police services, and the overall feeling of safety at the campus.

Method

Participants

A total of 577 students from West Texas A&M University participated in the study. West Texas A&M University is a regional university located in the town of Canyon, TX (population 12,000) and serves approximately 6500 students.

Materials

The development and full description of the survey instrument is detailed elsewhere (Hueston & Griffith, 2002). Participants of the study were asked questions regarding their sociodemographic and educational background, victimization, contact with campus police, satisfaction ratings of the campus police along 10 dimensions, and overall feeling of campus safety. Participants were also asked questions regarding prioritization of police activities, satisfaction with parking services, and a parking regulations knowledge test but that data is presented in separate study.