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Campus police or university police in the United States and Canada are sworn police or peace officers employed by a college or university to protect the private or public property of the campus and surrounding areas and the people who live, work, and visit it. In instances where they are not technically police officers, they are often known as campus safety or campus security.
Campus police in Canada are sworn in as peace officers – giving them full police powers on their respective campuses to enforce the Criminal Code, as well as local bylaws. Peace officers in Canada do not typically carry firearms like their police counterparts, so campus officers only carry a baton, pepper spray, handcuffs and a radio. Protective vests, similar to those of police, are worn. Notable examples of campus peace officer services include the University of Toronto Campus Safety Division, McMaster University Security Service, University of Alberta Protective Services and The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
In Ontario, the term of 'campus police' is prohibited under Bill 68 of the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019. [1] If anyone other than a police service, including a peace officer service, wishes to address themselves as 'police', they must seek exemption from the province. [2]
In the 2004–05 school year, 87% of college campuses had sworn officers with the power to arrest, and 90% of these departments were armed. [3]
Some secondary public school districts maintain their own police, such as the Los Angeles School Police Department, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Police Department and the New York City Police Department School Safety Division.[ citation needed ]
While modern conceptions and roles of campus policing are relatively new, their introduction into US colleges and universities is not. Yale University is accredited with creating the first university police force in 1894, with the initial function of the removal and policing of homeless people from the university premises. [4] However, the creation of the police force at Yale did not precipitate the implementation of nationwide campus police forces and the proliferation of modern campus policing was still not yet feasible. [5] The next few decades of campus policing mainly occurred through the designation of police officers on universities to serve as watchmen. [5] Under this model, officers served more or less as custodial figures whose responsibilities consisted of keeping a watchful eye over university property in the event of any defacements due to events such as water damage, fire, and other external threats. [5] The 1950s and 1960s ushered in a shift from the custodial and “watchman" models of campus policing which emphasized the protection of property, and directly contributed to the shaping of campus police into more proactive and modern policing departments.[ citation needed ]
The development of the modern model for campus policing arose out of a variety of social, historical, and political factors. One of these factors included the growth of student enrollment in college campuses across the country at large, following World War II. [5] Increases in enrollment helped to transform campuses into their own municipalities, and with this change in demographic came increased incidents of crime. University presidents soon sought to implement university police forces of their own to help control various crimes and other issues that arose due to large student populations. This was done primarily through the lobbying of several state legislatures. [6] In addition to increases in enrollment, the antiwar, civil rights, and other protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s similarly contributed to the development and evolution of campus policing as it is known today. It was during this time that colleges and universities began to hire former members of law enforcement and the military to control student protesters. [7] With these political and social forces at play, universities continued to model the function of their police forces after city police departments, in what is known as a vocational policing. [8] Under this model, the university would have direct oversight over the police force, and a more militarized structure of hierarchies would be at play. Similar trajectories would occur with the implementation of police officers, known as school resource officers (SRO's) in U.S. public schools. As of 2016, 77% of schools in the U.S. with 1000 or more students reported having at least one SRO on their campus at least once a week. [9]
With city police departments as a model, campus and public school police forces began to emerge as entities who operate on the basis mass surveillance on campuses. This was achieved through a myriad of mechanisms, including the solidifying of administrative systems, advocating for policing via community partnerships, standardized policing procedures and protocols, and more significantly, the arming of campus police. [10] The evolution of campus police forces into seemingly more professional entities was also made evident in changes to uniform policies. This took shape through the use of uniforms that were similar in fashion to military uniforms, in addition to the incorporation of bulletproof vests. [11] The goal of making campus police more professional, similarly included the employment and recruitment of retired law enforcement officials. [11]
Along with protest movements, there remains additional factors that ultimately contributed to the expansion, professionalization, and militarization of campus police forces. This included various federal legislative acts in response to drug usage, post-9/11 measures, and general shifts in dealing with crime. [4] Of significance is the implementation of the 1990 Clery Act. The Clery Act sought to further address and account for crime occurring on university campuses by requiring that colleges and universities that receive federal funding submit formal reports detailing the crimes that occur on their campuses. [12] This ultimately led campuses to heighten policing efforts.
School shootings would also have a huge impact on the shaping of modern campus police forces, as well as the justification to arm them.[ citation needed ] The Virginia Tech shooting of 2007, in which 32 people were killed and another 17 wounded, garnered media attention at the international level and consequently brought about various changes to how policing is conducted on college campuses. [13] In the aftermath of the massacre, various task force reports were conducted to create policy recommendations for universities, the state, and specifically for campus police, in preparation for the next Virginia Tech. [14] These reports indicated the limited scope and resources of campus police, and in the case of Virginia Tech, campus police were tasked with enlisting the help of the Blacksburg Police Department during the shooting. [15] A 2015 US Department of Justice special report was compiled to examine the role and data of campus police in their response to shootings such as the Virginia Tech incident, and others. [16] The report which analyzed the 2011–2012 school year, found that the percentage of campuses using armed police officers rose 7% from the 2004–2005 school year, and roughly 94% of campus police officers were allowed to use other weapons such as pepper spray and batons. [16] To date, there is little-to-no empirical evidence suggesting that the presence of armed police officers deters campus shootings. [17]
Expansion and militarization of campus policing on colleges and universities has taken place alongside an increase in incidents of police violence and racial bias no different from their municipal counterparts. [4] These issues have been made evident in the calls to action made by students, activists, and concerned community members alike in response to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. [18] Black student activists at Yale university (which is accredited for creating the first campus police force in the US) have since been advocating for the abolition and defunding of the campus police, citing a 2019 incident in which Yale police officers shot an unarmed Black couple. [18] Calls for the disbandment of campus police forces is not specific to Yale, but is ongoing nationwide. [19] As of 2020, over 85 student unions and groups have made calls to their respective campus administrators to end their associations with university and city police departments. [19] Calls for the disarming, defunding or abolition of campus police continued through 2021. [4] [20] [21]
Universities in the United Kingdom do not have police forces. However, the Universities Act 1825 gives both the universities of Oxford and Cambridge the ability to appoint Police Constables. Both universities formerly maintained police forces, although Oxford disbanded the Oxford University Police in 2003, with responsibility for university policing transferred to Thames Valley Police. Cambridge formally retains the Cambridge University Constabulary, with officers still holding police powers, but in reality they only perform a security and stewarding role. The University of Northampton has a dedicated University Northamptonshire Police Team at their Waterside Campus.
Special police usually describes a police force or unit within a such an agency whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same country or from other personnel within the same agency, although there is no consistent international definition. Generally, special police personnel hold some level of police powers; sometimes they hold the same powers and authority of other law enforcement officers within their jurisdiction, but at a minimum they will typically possess detainment and arrest authority. 'Special police' is also occasionally used when referring to an 'elite' law enforcement agency or unit, such as special weapons and tactics (SWAT) units or other similar paramilitary forces who have some level of police power. 'Special police' may also be used to describe individuals who are granted police powers incidental to their primary duties, such as welfare fraud investigators, certain security guards, child welfare investigators, and agricultural inspectors. Special police personnel may be armed or unarmed.
A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or to otherwise certify an individual as a law enforcement officer, typically a police officer.
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or Clery Act, signed in 1990, is a federal statute codified at , with implementing regulations in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations at 34 CFR 668.46.
The University of Toronto Campus Safety Special Constable Service is a special constabulary that provides police services to the three campuses of the University of Toronto. The Service was formed in 1904, and, as of 2022, serves roughly 97 000 students and 25 000 faculty and staff.
As of 2020, more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers have been serving in the United States. About 137,000 of those officers work for federal law enforcement agencies.
Law enforcement in Canada is the responsibility of police services, special constabularies, and civil law enforcement agencies, which are operated by every level of government, some private and Crown corporations, and First Nations. In contrast to the United States or Mexico, and with the exception of the Unité permanente anticorruption in Quebec and the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia, there are no organizations dedicated exclusively to the investigation of criminal activity in Canada. Criminal investigations are instead conducted by police services, which maintain specialized criminal investigation units in addition to their mandate for emergency response and general community safety.
The police departments of the University of California system are charged with providing law enforcement to each of the system's campuses.
The California State University police departments(CSUPD) (known within the California State University system as the Cal State Police or University Police) are the police departments of the California State University system. Their police officers are duly sworn peace officers of the State of California, as established by section 830.2(c) of the California Penal Code. There are a total of 23 campuses in the California State University system, each with their own police department. Each campus' police department has its own chain of command; however, some of the policies are system-wide.
The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree shooting that occurred on Monday, April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate student at the university, killed 32 people and wounded 17 others with two semi-automatic pistols. Six others were injured jumping out of windows to escape Cho.
The Virginia Tech Police Department (VTPD) is a nationally accredited police department with jurisdiction over Virginia Tech. The departments original accreditation with CALEA was awarded on November 18, 1995 and the department has continued with re-accreditation. In November 2015, the department met "gold standard" and also won CALEA's "Accreditation with Excellence" award.
The New York State University Police (NYSUP) is the law enforcement agency of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Approximately 600 uniformed officers and investigators, as well as sixty-four chiefs, serve the 29 state college and university campuses throughout the state.
Police brutality is the use of excessive or unwarranted force by law enforcement against civilians. Police brutality involves physical or psychological harm to a person and can involve beatings, killing, intimidation tactics, racist abuse, and torture.
The United States Department of Justice defines school resource officers (SRO) as "sworn law enforcement officers responsible for the safety and crime prevention in schools". They are employed by a local police or sheriff's department and work closely with administrators in an effort to create a safer environment for both students and staff. The powers and responsibilities are similar to those of regular police officers, as they make arrests, respond to calls for service and document incidents.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Department is the police agency charged with providing law enforcement to the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The 168-acre (68.0 ha) campus extends over 1 mile (1.6 km) along the northern bank of the Charles River basin.
In the United States, certification and licensure requirements for law enforcement officers vary significantly from state to state. Policing in the United States is highly fragmented, and there are no national minimum standards for licensing police officers in the U.S. Researchers say police are given far more training on use of firearms than on de-escalating provocative situations. On average, US officers spend around 21 weeks training before they are qualified to go on patrol, which is far less than in most other developed countries.
The Campus Accountability and Safety Act (CASA) was a bill introduced in the 114th United States Congress with the goal of reducing sexual violence on college and university campuses. First introduced in 2014, a revised bill was introduced in February 2015 by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri with nine bi-partisan cosponsors. 43 cosponsors eventually signed on. The bill died in committee at the end of the session without reaching a floor vote in either house.
The militarization of police is the use of military equipment and tactics by law enforcement officers. This includes the use of armored personnel carriers (APCs), assault rifles, submachine guns, flashbang grenades, sniper rifles, and SWAT teams. The militarization of law enforcement is also associated with intelligence agency–style information gathering aimed at the public and political activists and with a more aggressive style of law enforcement. Criminal justice professor Peter Kraska has defined militarization of police as "the process whereby civilian police increasingly draw from, and pattern themselves around, the tenets of militarism and the military model".
The murder of Jeanne Clery occurred at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on April 5, 1986. Clery, who was a freshman at the time of her death, was raped and killed in her dormitory on the Lehigh University campus. Clery's parents believed the university failed to share vital information with its students regarding campus safety, and launched a campaign for legislative reform for several years following their daughter's death.
In the United States, "defund the police" is a slogan that supports removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources. Activists who use the phrase may do so with varying intentions; some seek modest reductions, while others argue for full divestment as a step toward the abolition of contemporary police services. Activists who support the defunding of police departments often argue that investing in community programs could provide a better crime deterrent for communities; funds would go toward addressing social issues, like poverty, homelessness, and mental disorders. Police abolitionists call for replacing existing police forces with other systems of public safety, like housing, employment, community health, education, and other programs.