tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/campus-police-19152/articlesCampus police – The Conversation2022-12-16T13:14:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1966992022-12-16T13:14:32Z2022-12-16T13:14:32ZVideo of college student arrest raises questions about use of police on campus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501431/original/file-20221215-11129-cz7dtr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C9%2C2994%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students of color report negative encounters with campus police.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/retro-campus-security-royalty-free-image/485632753?phrase=police%20college&adppopup=true">mrdoomits via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>When a <a href="https://www.wxii12.com/article/wssu-responds-video-showing-officers-removing-student-classroom/42248265">video emerged</a> of a 20-year-old Black student being arrested at Winston-Salem State University on Dec. 14, 2022, after she got into a verbal argument with her professor, it brought renewed attention to the often controversial role of campus police. Here, Jarell Skinner-Roy, a University of Michigan doctoral student who is examining how students of color view police and surveillance on college and university campuses, breaks down the significance of the episode at the historically Black college in North Carolina.</em></p>
<h2>What does this video prove?</h2>
<p>For me, this is additional evidence of how colleges and universities often function as an extension of what some scholars refer to as the “<a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7ab5f5c3fbca46c38f0b2496bcaa5ab0">carceral state</a>.” That includes penal institutions, but it also involves people’s views on when law enforcement should get involved in disputes and altercations.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814776162/race-ethnicity-and-policing/">wide body of research</a> has already found that people of color are disproportionately affected by the carceral state. My <a href="https://aera22-aera.ipostersessions.com/?s=75-52-58-6F-E5-1E-86-4D-87-10-09-08-63-32-F7-81">preliminary research</a> is beginning to show that this also holds true in higher education.</p>
<p>To me, this incident is also an example of how colleges and universities weaponize police against students. In this case, a university staff member – who was <a href="https://www.wxii12.com/article/wssu-responds-video-showing-officers-removing-student-classroom/42248265">not involved</a> in the dispute – decided to call campus law enforcement on this Black student. Other students in the video can be heard saying that the student did not start the argument.</p>
<p>Elwood L. Robinson, the chancellor at Winston-Salem State University, <a href="https://www.wssu.edu/about/news/articles/2022/12/a-letter-from-chancellor-robinson.html">denied</a> that this incident is a case of police being weaponized against students. In the video, the student is shown being handcuffed by police as she questions why police were called. </p>
<p>In my view, there were other more productive and safer ways to handle this verbal disagreement between a professor and a student. Yet, in this case, <a href="https://www.wxii12.com/article/wssu-responds-video-showing-officers-removing-student-classroom/42248265">university officials have defended</a> the decision to call campus police.</p>
<p>“In accordance with law enforcement procedures, our officer’s first priority is to assess the situation and provide every opportunity for a positive resolution,” Robinson said. “As situations escalate, their responsibility is to ensure the safety of the students, faculty and staff members that are present.”</p>
<p>The chancellor denied that the incident was a case of police being weaponized.</p>
<p>“We understand that the weaponization of police is a prevalent problem in our community,” Robinson said. “However, that is not what happened in this incident.”</p>
<h2>Why is this problematic?</h2>
<p>When <a href="https://activisthistory.com/2019/11/19/race-and-policing-in-higher-education/">colleges and universities are so intimately tied with the carceral state</a> through their partnerships with police departments as well as their own law enforcement agencies, punishment will always take precedence over safety. In this case, this student is now <a href="https://www.complex.com/life/winston-salem-state-university-student-arrested-in-class">facing criminal charges</a> for misdemeanor disorderly conduct.</p>
<p>This theme of prioritizing punishment over safety directly aligns with the preliminary findings of my ongoing research on campus policing with the <a href="https://www.campusabolition.org/">Campus Abolition Research Lab</a> at the University of Michigan. In interviews I did with 40 students in focus groups earlier in 2022, one preliminary finding is students of color often report having had negative experiences with campus police. They also report being unfairly monitored and reprimanded and therefore do not feel safe around them.</p>
<h2>Is this a one-time thing or systemic and widespread?</h2>
<p>I believe it’s important not to see these incidents as unfortunate yet isolated cases. In reality, there have been many documented incidents of colleges and universities weaponizing police against their students. Some recent and notable examples include a Georgia State University officer <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/04/04/professor-calls-police-two-tardy-black-students">removing two Black students from their classroom</a> for being tardy earlier this year, several campus police officers at Barnard College <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/04/15/barnard-suspends-police-officers-after-incident-black-student">restraining a Black student</a> who was trying to enter the campus library, and a Yale police officer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/opinion/charles-blow-at-yale-the-police-detained-my-son.html">holding at Black student at gunpoint</a> who was just walking home from the library in 2015.</p>
<p>Furthermore, there have been many tragic incidents of campus law enforcement killing students on campus, including at <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2012-dec-09-la-me-student-slaying-20121210-story.html">Cal State San Bernardino in 2012</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/us/georgia-tech-killing-student.html">Georgia Tech in 2017</a>.</p>
<p>Colleges and universities have a long tradition of weaponizing police or even soldiers against their students, especially as a means of quelling student protests, as was the case in the deadly shootings at <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/kent-state-shooting">Kent State University</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126426361">Jackson State University</a> in 1970.</p>
<h2>What can colleges do?</h2>
<p>First, I believe institutions must examine their current policies and practices regarding campus safety, policing, surveillance and student discipline through an <a href="https://abolitionistfutures.com/full-reading-list">abolitionist view</a>, which envisions other ways to repair harms instead of relying on police or penal institutions.</p>
<p>Relatedly, the experiences and voices of students — especially racially marginalized students — must be heard and prioritized in this review of campus safety policies and practices. Students from all over the country <a href="https://www.higheredtoday.org/2016/01/13/what-are-students-demanding/">have demanded</a> reforms to policing on campus, such as reallocating resources away from campus police departments or having campus police not be armed. If institutional leaders were serious about making changes, they would make sure to hear and learn from those who are most affected by these policies.</p>
<p>Lastly, I believe higher education must begin to <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/06/02/heels-george-floyd-killing-colleges-have-moral-imperative-not-work-local-police">redirect funding for campus police</a> toward other programs and services that keep students healthy and safe, such as mental health services or organizations that push for alternatives to police and prisons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jarell Skinner-Roy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Arrest of student who got in dispute with professor raises questions about the role of campus police.Jarell Skinner-Roy, Doctoral Student in Higher Education, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1633272021-08-12T12:28:02Z2021-08-12T12:28:02Z5 issues that could affect the future of campus police<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415718/original/file-20210811-21-rv9dxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C7178%2C4677&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Campus police have been accused of biased practices. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-national-guard-along-with-university-police-news-photo/1213723784?adppopup=true">John Paraskevas/Newsday RM vis Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the May 2020 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd.html">murder of George Floyd</a> at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, much of the attention on police reform has been <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/killings-by-police-declined-after-black-lives-matter-protests1/">directed at municipal police departments</a>. But there has also been a noticeable uptick in protests against the practices of campus police. </p>
<p>Protests have occurred at, among other schools, <a href="https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/new-haven/students-call-on-yale-to-defund-campus-police-department/">Yale University</a>, <a href="https://news.wttw.com/2020/09/06/university-chicago-students-end-7-day-occupation-outside-provost-home">the University of Chicago</a>, <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-hopkins-police-20210305-xgs7434erbbpzgfhj3p7yxeoz4-story.html">Johns Hopkins University</a>, the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/tension-escalates-between-university-of-minnesota-student-leaders-campus-police/600051740/">University of Minnesota</a> and various campuses of the <a href="https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/05/04/california-university-students-employees-demand-removal-of-campus-police/">University of California system</a>. </p>
<p>The protests have been fueled by evidence of <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/15/one-police-call-lasting-damage-smith">racial profiling</a>, <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/university-cops-face-renewed-scrutiny-amid-protests-against-police-brutality/">excessive force</a>, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/scholars-under-surveillance-how-campus-police-use-high-tech-spy-students">improper surveillance</a> and allowing <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/how-police-can-stop-being-weaponized-bias-motivated">racial stereotypes</a> in 911 calls to influence officer responses. </p>
<p>Protesters have demanded that schools undertake major <a href="https://www.pdx.edu/president/reimagining-campus-public-safety">reforms</a> of their campus police departments. Others have called on schools to <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/12/defund-campus-police.html">defund</a> their police. Still others have demanded <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-we-should-abolish-campus-police">abolishing</a> campus police altogether. </p>
<p>To understand this state of affairs, it helps to first understand the creation and evolution of campus policing.</p>
<h2>Police on college campuses</h2>
<p>Sworn and armed police officers on college campuses have existed since Yale <a href="https://thebscblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/a-seminal-moment-for-americas-campus-police/">hired two officers</a> from the New Haven Police Department in 1894. Their duties included patrolling campus and protecting life and property. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that campus police as they exist today first appeared.</p>
<p>These early departments were often <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/8966NCJRS.pdf">commanded by</a> former deputy chiefs or precinct commanders of police departments in major cities. That pattern continues <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/07/27/johns-hopkins-campus-police-private/">today</a>. Campus police departments also follow the <a href="https://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/what-works-in-policing/research-evidence-review/standard-model-policing-tactics/">“standard model”</a> of policing typically used by city police in which campus officers wear uniforms, take an oath to protect and serve, and carry handguns.</p>
<p>Having studied campus police since 1992, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cmMlCVkAAAAJ&hl=en">my research and experience</a> lead me to believe there are currently five issues campus police chiefs and university presidents could address to prevent further student unrest.</p>
<h2>1. Legitimacy</h2>
<p>Many of the student protests have raised questions about the <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article237068524.html">legitimacy</a> of campus police. That is, <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL261/better-policing-toolkit/all-strategies/legitimacy-policing/in-depth.html">they are questioning</a> the very existence of campus police.</p>
<p>Initially, legitimacy for campus police rested with the fact that they were supposed to be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/12/10/new-style-of-police-training-aims-to-produce-guardians-not-warriors/">guardians</a> of the campus community. However, almost from the beginning, the ideal of campus police officers as guardians failed to gain traction. Students, campus visitors and even other police officers expressed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0032258X20906859">skepticism</a> about whether campus police had the same authority as real police.</p>
<p>To remedy this, during the 1980s and 1990s, new campus officers began to train at the <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED272039">same academies</a> as regular officers. They were also armed with the same weapons and tools, including handguns, <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/181655.pdf">pepper spray</a>, batons, handcuffs and walkie-talkies.</p>
<p>This strategy, however, ran into problems when the legitimacy of regular police <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-legitimacy-how-it-can-be-regained-once-lost-144154">came under fire</a>. This was especially true after the murder of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd.html">Floyd</a> by Minneapolis police officer <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/25/us/derek-chauvin-sentencing-george-floyd/index.html">Derek Chauvin</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Militarization</h2>
<p>Some colleges have also tapped into an effort to take surplus military equipment from the U.S. government – giving rise to what some <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/885942130/militarization-of-police-means-u-s-protesters-face-weapons-designed-for-war">critics have described</a> as <a href="https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/radley-balko/rise-of-the-warrior-cop/9781610392129/">the rise</a> of a “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3096870">warrior</a>” persona among campus police. </p>
<p>Specifically, campus police <a href="https://diverseeducation.com/article/184523/">departments</a> have been taking advantage of the U.S. Defense Department’s <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/pentagon-hand-me-downs-militarize-police-1033-program/">1033 Program</a>. Created as part of 1997’s <a href="https://justfacts.votesmart.org/bill/2780/8182/national-defense-authorization-act-for-fiscal-year-1997">National Defense Authorization Act</a>, the 1033 Program allows the Defense Department to legally dispose of surplus equipment by giving it to local authorities, including police agencies. </p>
<p>Since the program’s inception, over <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2020/06/12/police-departments-1033-military-equipment-weapons/">$7 billion worth of equipment</a> has been transferred to more than 8,000 law enforcement agencies, including campus police departments at <a href="https://www.thelantern.com/2013/09/ohio-state-university-police-bring-in-military-vehicle/">The Ohio State University</a> and the <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/the-university-of-central-florida-has-a-grenade-launcher-and-florida/2198069/">University of Central Florida</a>. </p>
<p>Scholarly evidence shows <a href="https://news.emory.edu/stories/2020/12/er_military_equipment_police_crime/campus.html">little effect</a> of such equipment on crime levels either on or off campus. Instead, the evidence shows <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/19412116">negative impacts</a> of this equipment on citizen perceptions of, and trust in, police. This includes campus officers.</p>
<h2>3. Transparency</h2>
<p>Unlike their municipal counterparts, campus police – particularly those at private schools – may not have to release formal records of officer encounters with citizens. For example, <a href="https://www.policedatainitiative.org/datasets/incidents/">police incident reports</a> that include such information as the circumstances of the encounter are official records of the agency and stored in its records management system. Since these records may be <a href="https://splc.org/2008/03/sunshine-week-when-requesting-campus-crime-records-responses-vary-widely/">difficult to obtain</a> from campus police departments, tracking the outcomes of officer encounters with students and others may be difficult.</p>
<p>A 2016 <a href="https://splc.org/2016/03/private-campus-police-forces/">review</a> by the Student Press Law Center found that Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Virginia were the only states that had enacted legislation requiring public disclosure of police incident reports by private police departments sanctioned by the state. Additionally, agency processes and procedures for addressing complaints filed against officers are often <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/news/2020/07/15/487647/4-actions-colleges-can-take-address-police-brutality/">difficult to obtain</a>. This makes it harder for citizens to file complaints against campus officers.</p>
<h2>4. ‘Mission creep’</h2>
<p>“Mission creep” refers to the gradual geographical expansion of an intervention, project or mission beyond its original scope. Often used by the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/u-s-mission-creep-in-afghanistan-led-to-unwinnable-never-ending-war-confidential-documents-show/">military</a>, the term describes reasons for countries becoming involved in conflicts longer than originally planned. In the case of campus police, mission creep refers to the fact that officers’ <a href="https://www.police1.com/police-jobs-and-careers/articles/college-police-forces-increasingly-expand-jurisdiction-Wmunbm1YTJE5x9M5/">jurisdictional boundaries</a> are increasingly extending well beyond campus into surrounding areas. </p>
<p>Through <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+sum+HB965S">mutual aid agreements</a>, local municipalities give campus police legal authority to patrol off-campus locations and render assistance to local police as needed. As a result, campus police now patrol areas well outside the physical boundaries of their campus, in communities where residents may not know who the officers are or why they are in the neighborhood. This is a situation ripe for <a href="https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2020/6/28/university-must-disband-private-police-force/">conflict</a>.</p>
<h2>5. Training</h2>
<p>New campus officers must first complete <a href="https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/handle/1951/70612">basic law enforcement training</a> before being allowed to undertake their duties. </p>
<p>This training involves on average of 800 or more contact hours at one of nearly 700 police academies in the U.S. The focus of this training is across several “core” areas: operations, weapons and defensive tactics, self improvement and <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/Publications/cops-p157-pub.pdf">community-oriented policing</a>, a practice where community members partner with police to come up with solutions to fight crime.</p>
<p>However, it is not unusual for training in operations and weapons or defensive tactics to encompass more than 60% of total training hours, compared to training in community-oriented policing that constitutes only about 10% of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F10986111211013311">total hours</a>. Thus, what’s being stressed in the training campus officers receive are <a href="https://thebscblog.wordpress.com/page/4/">traditional law enforcement</a> tools and tactics, rather than conflict deescalation, professional ethics, community partnerships, communication and problem solving.</p>
<h2>Areas for reform</h2>
<p>That many of the same criticisms being leveled at the police more broadly are also being leveled against campus police creates opportunities for both. For campus police, there are <a href="https://universitybusiness.com/reform-campus-police-uc-davis-binghamton-protests-george-floyd/">solutions</a>. For example, campus police departments can make themselves more transparent and their officers more accountable. They can remove military-grade weapons and equipment from their arsenals to help change their “warrior” image. </p>
<p>Departments can also emphasize that their officers be guided by the principles of <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/prodceduraljustice">procedural justice</a> during interactions with citizens to ensure fairness, grant citizens a voice and ensure that officers don’t make biased decisions.</p>
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<p>Ending mutual aid agreements can reverse campus departments’ ever-expanding jurisdictional boundaries and help reduce officer conflict with citizens in communities beyond campus. </p>
<p>In my opinion, reforms like these will transform not only how campus police “serve and protect” but dramatically enhance citizen perceptions of their legitimacy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John J Sloan, III has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Community Oriented Policing, and the National Institute of Justice. </span></em></p>As college students seek reform of campus police, a scholar outlines five issues that warrant the most attention.John J. Sloan III, Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice and Sociology, University of Alabama at BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1011562018-08-07T10:43:07Z2018-08-07T10:43:07ZSmith College incident is latest case of racial ‘profiling by proxy’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230803/original/file-20180806-191013-1ii8qnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Racial minorities face profiling on campus.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/retro-filtered-campus-security-sign-on-185887085?src=t_NFegO6wavRrTJnSUb5MQ-1-0">Mr. Doomits/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Smith College has <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/08/02/police-called-on-black-student-eating-lunch-at-smith-college">opened an investigation</a> into a July 31 incident in which a staff employee called campus police on a black student who supposedly <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/08/02/police-called-on-black-student-eating-lunch-at-smith-college">“seemed to be out of place.”</a></p>
<p>It turns out the student, <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/08/02/police-called-on-black-student-eating-lunch-at-smith-college">Oumou Kanoute</a>, who had a summer job with the college, was <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/08/02/police-called-on-black-student-eating-lunch-at-smith-college">simply eating lunch</a> in a common area. </p>
<p>This incident did not happen in isolation. It is just the latest in a string of cases <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-race-triggers-a-call-to-campus-police-97507">referred to</a> as <a href="https://www.vera.org/blog/police-perspectives/avoiding-profiling-by-proxy">profiling by proxy</a> – instances where police are summoned to a situation by a biased caller.</p>
<p>We make this observation as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aPbFPvkAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a> with a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&gmla=AJsN-F6a4jNt7BEIwL64bgB5mcaoq8p41IcWqHBgKHYv3ZW2oSvFbBlWEVfC232Y0PhHrpUKRJky4E7VYKODpbpmH7MrLj8iIEDHFh4Y1D6xhf-rH5bI8hA&user=CCiMc5IAAAAJ">keen interest in how race comes into play</a> during day-to-day interactions with police both in and outside of college campuses.</p>
<h2>Outsiders on campus</h2>
<p>College campuses are often thought of as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23044032">safe spaces</a> and commonly regarded as forward-thinking environments. However, as the Smith College incident and other events demonstrate, merely being a student or even a faculty member does not always equate to acceptance and inclusion, particularly if the student or professor is a member of a minority group on campus.</p>
<p>Consider, for instance, two recent incidents on college campuses that involved racial <a href="https://www.vera.org/blog/police-perspectives/avoiding-profiling-by-proxy">profiling by proxy</a>. One incident took place in Colorado on the campus of Colorado State University earlier this year during a campus visit and tour. Two prospective students, who were Native American males, were accused of acting “odd” due to their quiet disposition and clothing by a parent of another student on the campus tour. Due to her heightened suspicions, she <a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2018/05/04/colorado-state-university-police-body-cam-video-shows-response-native-american-students/581924002/">called the police</a> on the two teens. The other incident took place in Connecticut earlier this year on the campus of Yale University. In this instance, a white student <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/09/us/yale-student-napping-black-trnd/index.html">called the police</a> on a black female graduate student who took a nap while writing a paper in their dorm’s common room.</p>
<p>All of these cases serve to show how racial micro- and <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9780814776186/">macro-aggressions</a> aren’t limited to <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716212446299?journalCode=anna">neighborhoods</a>. They surface on college and university campuses as well. These recent incidents come not even two years after the hashtag <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/11/11/i-never-felt-safe-blackoncampus-stories-flood-social-media-after-missouri-protests/?utm_term=.07cd4b360e5c">#BlackOnCampus</a> flooded Twitter, exposing the daily occurrences of racism experienced by black students and leading to protests focused on race relations on <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/here-are-the-demands-from-students-protesting-racism-at-51-colleges/">over 50 college campuses</a>.</p>
<p>Campuses have often been described as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ss.56">“microcosms of society,”</a> so these incidents send a troubling message that the racist attitudes and behaviors that were part and parcel of American history endure in the present. They also highlight the need to move beyond policies addressing the legal restrictions that historically limited access to spaces and places to certain racial groups. Moving beyond this negative aspect of our nation’s past requires a shift in the current discussion from one that focuses on law enforcement and campus safety towards one in which we candidly discuss shared historical fallacies about the much-maligned “other.” This unpacking necessitates an understanding of how we, as a society, got to where we are today. </p>
<h2>The myth of black criminality</h2>
<p>From a historical perspective, American society was based on social constructions of race, ethnicity, gender and other identities. As a result, an <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Wf-TAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR3&lpg=PR3&dq=Bolton,+Kenneth,+and+Joe+Feagin.+2004.+Black+in+blue:+African+American+police+officers+and+racism.+London+and+New+York:+Routledge+Publishers.&source=bl&ots=5fvJ5OCrqH&sig=Sw0I4Jq4qsqaWXsF_yRhKIvMKI8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj1wZi9pMjbAhWmt1kKHXXeDKoQ6AEIQzAF#v=onepage&q=Bolton%2C%20Kenneth%2C%20and%20Joe%20Feagin.%202004.%20Black%20in%20blue%3A%20African%20American%20police%20officers%20and%20racism.%20London%20and%20New%20York%3A%20Routledge%20Publishers.&f=false">American narrative</a> that defined being different from the majority as <a href="http://leeclarke.com/courses/intro/readings/becker_definingdeviance.pdf">deviant</a> became embedded within the framework of American society, as well as the nation’s legal system. </p>
<p>One example of this that appeared after the Civil War was the enactment of the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-codes">black codes</a>, which greatly restricted blacks’ labor and movement. The different-as-deviant narrative still affects American society to this day. Public policies and governmental actions have often reinforced these notions of “otherness” by marginalizing those who are considered <a href="https://www.sunypress.edu/pdf/61060.pdf">undeserving and uncapable</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227470/original/file-20180712-27030-3v70k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227470/original/file-20180712-27030-3v70k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227470/original/file-20180712-27030-3v70k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227470/original/file-20180712-27030-3v70k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227470/original/file-20180712-27030-3v70k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227470/original/file-20180712-27030-3v70k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227470/original/file-20180712-27030-3v70k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227470/original/file-20180712-27030-3v70k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sign reading ‘waiting room for colored only, by order Police Dept.’ Ca. 1940s or 1950s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/sign-reading-waiting-room-colored-only-245961340?src=MeCjJmkJIRr5kQtLCIZIFA-1-3">Everett Historical/www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Human beings have often been described as having an affinity for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1330220225">myths</a>. One myth that continues to permeate society is known as <a href="https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/jpmsp/vol23/iss1/2/">Black Crimmythology</a> – or the myth that conflates blackness or otherness with criminality. </p>
<p>Black Crimmythology, as the converging legacy of the <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674012424">social construction of race</a> and the <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Stigma/Erving-Goffman/9780671622442">stigma</a> that accompanies it, continues to blemish our society. As such, it has a constraining limiting effect that impacts a person’s meaning, destiny and value – all based upon their physical appearance. </p>
<p>Political constructions are public policies that were created to reinforce the social construction of Black Crimmythology. Public policies – both before and after the Civil War – limited the spaces and places to which blacks and other people of color had access, with criminalizing effects. Implementing Black Crimmythology and the policies that legally reinforced it required the assistance of public servants – that is, law enforcement officers – and the support of white citizens who made up the dominant class. </p>
<p>The incidents at Smith College, <a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2018/05/04/colorado-state-university-police-body-cam-video-shows-response-native-american-students/581924002/">Colorado State University</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/09/us/yale-student-napping-black-trnd/index.html">Yale University</a> highlight how all these things – race or Black Crimmythology, practices of contemporary police officers and “support” from members of the dominant racial group – resulted in a negative interaction or encounter. The police were called to address each caller’s implicit or explicit bias or prejudiced anxieties. These incidents reflect the lasting nature of the old narrative of defining one who is different as deviant, even during what some have described as our <a href="http://diverseeducation.com/article/12238/">post-racial</a> or <a href="https://www.greenlightbookstore.com/book/9781439177556">post-black</a> society.</p>
<h2>Toward ‘brave’ spaces</h2>
<p>In order to make progress and lessen the potential for negative encounters between members of minority groups and campus police, society must be willing to enter into <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/From-Safe-Spaces-to-Brave-Spaces-A-New-Way-to-Frame-Arao-Clemens/75c56a5dba81efd0954597ea39eb7d55acc7a202">brave spaces</a> – that is, spaces where people find the courage to risk engaging in uncomfortable and unsettling dialogue around issues of race and racism. </p>
<p>This effort requires more than just acknowledging the pain of others, but actually acting upon it.</p>
<p>One tool that can help in this regard is the <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/227/threat-assessment-flowchart-rev-3b.pdf?1533746388">Handy Guide for Objective Threat Evaluation</a> utilized by the University of California-Irvine Police Department. This tool asks that prior to calling the police, members of the public should ask themselves a series of questions: Does someone seem suspicious because of something that they are doing? Does someone seem suspicious because of how they are behaving? Or, is it because of their appearance? If it is because of their appearance and not because of their behavior, the assessment advises not to call.</p>
<p>This tool was created to help the public identify when situations and incidents necessitate calling the police. If the callers at Smith College, Colorado State and Yale would have followed this guide, officers never would have been summoned in the first place.</p>
<p><em><strong>Editor’s Note:</strong></em> <em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-race-triggers-a-call-to-campus-police-97507">article</a> originally published on July 16, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101156/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Marie Headley has received funding in the past from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics to conduct research on police-community relations. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian N. Williams and Megan LePere-Schloop do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An incident in which a Smith College employee called police on a black student who ‘seemed out of place’ is just the latest in a string of cases of racial ‘profiling by proxy,’ three scholars argue.Brian N. Williams, Visiting Professor of Public Policy, University of VirginiaAndrea M. Headley, Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, BerkeleyMegan LePere-Schloop, Assistant Professor, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/477432015-10-07T10:09:12Z2015-10-07T10:09:12ZWhy wearing sagging pants on a college campus becomes a criminal offense<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97442/original/image-20151006-7335-1pq5fj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why are there so many escalations with the police on campus?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_a_hernandez/4120626467/in/photolist-7h8hFV-c4nGjb-bmhqbn-xsi2q-9SntNJ-dbLF54-pMMzR2-8x8PZw-av26vE-auYpUg-auYq9K-auYq66-auYpWD-auYq3X-av26of-8RyK7F-8xwJzG-982CxP-985L4h-982CyF-982Cu4-982Ctp-985KXs-982Ct2-985KWU-985L3h-4epYdm-sn1tug-s3HCu8-s5tBky-s5sxGS-s5sy3b-s5sxTd-s5tBqo-sn1ttz-sn1tEM-sn3UfZ-s5sxQN-sjKNkE-sn3TUZ-cAKK6j-448PbA-3KUWjo-hazaTf-7HwTzZ-4r7Lh9-2uF78-8xsBFX-4FJNS9-bmhkSX">Paul A. Hernandez</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A disciplinary board at <a href="http://www.hindscc.edu/">Hinds Community College </a>in Raymond, Mississippi, has ruled that a student <a href="http://wjtv.com/2015/09/09/hinds-community-college-students-protest-after-fellow-student-arrested/">arrested</a> earlier this month for failing to show his student ID to campus police officers when asked to do so will not face punishment from the school. </p>
<p>Officers testified during the hearing that the student wasn’t rude during the encounter and did not violate the school’s <a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/09/09/hinds-college-students-protest-arrests/71972574/">dress code policy</a> that prohibited wearing sagging pants (“<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/09/11/347143588/sagging-pants-and-the-long-history-of-dangerous-street-fashion">sagging</a>”), initially believed to be the reason for the arrest. </p>
<p>The panel also ruled the student was not disorderly and that aside from not showing his ID, he did not violate any school policy. </p>
<p>The incident, however, made <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/16/student-arrest-and-protest-raise-questions-over-campus-sagging-pants-ban">national news</a>.</p>
<p>This is the second noteworthy incident involving campus police in less than three months. In late July, former University of Cincinnati police officer <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/us/questions-after-unarmed-ohio-man-is-killed-in-traffic-stop.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article">Ray Tensing</a> shot and killed an unarmed motorist, Joseph Dubose, during an apparently routine traffic stop near the UC campus. </p>
<p>Officer Tensing was later <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/us/university-of-cincinnati-officer-indicted-in-shooting-death-of-motorist.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article&_r=0">indicted</a> on murder charges and is awaiting trial.</p>
<p>As one who has studied the <a href="http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/ajpol11&div=18&id=&page=">history</a>, <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/13639510310503541?journalCode=pijpsm&">structure</a> and <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/09d5ee09d3e080f805c4738957af43b6/1?pq-origsite=gscholar">function</a> of campus police departments for nearly 20 years, I find incidents involving campus police officers apparently exceeding their authority troubling, particularly given the current backdrop of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/even-before-teen-michael-browns-slaying-in-mo-racial-questions-have-hung-over-police/2014/08/13/78b3c5c6-2307-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html">conflicts</a> occurring between police officers and members of the African-American community in varied locations around the country.</p>
<p>Granted, these are isolated incidents. But one can certainly ask why such escalations occur during apparently routine interactions between campus police officers and citizens.</p>
<h2>Who becomes a cop?</h2>
<p>Campus police officers, like their municipal counterparts, engage in what are called <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iP7FQgAACAAJ&dq=police+field+interrogations&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBWoVChMI78bgkpyTyAIVB9OACh0hQw2-">field interrogations</a> of people both on and (increasingly) off campus. </p>
<p>Field interrogations occur when an officer <a href="http://bpdnews.com/news/2014/10/8/boston-police-commissioner-announces-field-interrogation-and-observation-fio-study-results">stops and questions someone</a> – what’s their name, what are they doing in the location – because the officer <a href="http://directives.chicagopolice.org/lt2014/data/a7a57be2-12946bda-6b312-9477-fa7bd068c1f6ec0d.html">reasonably infers</a> from the circumstances that the citizen has committed or is likely to commit an offense. </p>
<p>In some cases, field interrogations may escalate into physical conflict between the officer and student. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97446/original/image-20151006-7358-1hzicf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97446/original/image-20151006-7358-1hzicf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97446/original/image-20151006-7358-1hzicf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97446/original/image-20151006-7358-1hzicf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97446/original/image-20151006-7358-1hzicf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97446/original/image-20151006-7358-1hzicf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97446/original/image-20151006-7358-1hzicf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who becomes a cop?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jobafunky/4566088271/in/photolist-7XuoXR-7Xuqxv-7Xup6v-7XupXM-7XxDKC-7XxDPf-7XxDeq-7Xupjn-e19RdS-arHVGk-arLA2S-dhjTey-arHVQa-dSVXUE-ecVZhC-p5Cv7f-cKCaiu-dd6Lrv-di3MNB-9t1pYX-arHVZp-d4CA2f-dhjSfv-H8BTr-di3Mon-dd6Mf5-t5pwNh-e8k4Hm-dzpsa5-pVdnhy-di3Kqh-apZXFn-e4U3Qo-d138xh-xAhWLH-d1382W-di3LQG-e8k4Pf-9zpa4U-8qaA5E-akxqU5-qewTSz-vR6dWU-bBaiNC-an2uUH-7RUwtv-9t1pTK-7S335j-7LXz61-2zm8L1">JOBAfunky</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/conferences/policewomen/braith.pdf">observers</a> have suggested such escalations are <em>not</em> accidental. </p>
<p>For example, research has found that police officers possess traits that are associated with <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02819064">authoritarian personalities</a>. That is, they rigidly adhere to certain values, including a strong belief in hard work, that people should not be “given” anything (particularly by the government) and that one’s family is extremely important. An additional trait of authoritarians is a tendency to express <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2005.00418.x/abstract">hostility</a> toward people unlike themselves.</p>
<p>There is also evidence that police officers are generally more <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0199283397/ref=rdr_ext_tmb">conservative</a> than are the people they police. </p>
<p>It could also be argued the way that police departments <a href="http://www.rand.org/jie/centers/quality-policing/cops/resources/analytical_reports.html">recruit and screen</a> prospective officers is designed to result in certain “types of people” making the cut: those that embody (or are amenable to learning) the <a href="http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/38432_4.pdf">culture</a> of that particular department – in effect, <em>its</em> values and beliefs. </p>
<h2>Enforcing the status quo</h2>
<p>The authority of these police officers is announced well before the officer even says a word: he or she wears a uniform and carries a host of accouterments associated with their authority (a <a href="http://policelink.monster.com/training/articles/123817-ten-tips-for-on-target-academy-firearms-training">sidearm</a>, handcuffs, <a href="http://www.policeone.com/less-lethal/articles/2013316-Training-to-develop-knockdown-power-with-your-baton/">impact weapons</a> (baton), <a href="http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4795381_pepper-spray-police-officer-training.html">pepper spray</a> and/or a <a href="http://www.policeone.com/police-products/less-lethal/TASER/">TASER</a>, a radio, ammunition, etc). The officer is also trained to use his or her voice to gain compliance from citizens.</p>
<p>The authority that police officers represent is the status quo; challenges to it are thus taken seriously.</p>
<p>“Old school” characterizations like “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=suWeHptPPt4C&pg=PT5&lpg=PT5&dq=the+injustice+of+justice+AKA+publishing&source=bl&ots=t57kYna0So&sig=Efts_j6xxEpx7WAiiqnxbM2wOXI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAWoVChMI5v_YtI2kyAIVSHQ-Ch1iNgi8#v=onepage&q=the%20injustice%20of%20justice%20AKA%20publishing&f=false">contempt of cop</a>” or “pissing off a police officer” (POPO) describe someone failing to act deferentially toward a police officer and, therefore, “deserving” what they get – arrest, a beating, or worse.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97448/original/image-20151006-7335-18iseyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97448/original/image-20151006-7335-18iseyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97448/original/image-20151006-7335-18iseyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97448/original/image-20151006-7335-18iseyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97448/original/image-20151006-7335-18iseyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97448/original/image-20151006-7335-18iseyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97448/original/image-20151006-7335-18iseyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are campus police overreacting?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecurrent/4407169263/in/photolist-7HrTSX-d13miS-e4NqAM-dvrdin-qcLkgz-dKZExV-qcAbGr-DRUNn-dscpqs-dV6Efe-7mwhwH-dzpsJd-qDdCJT-4v2dLh-bzLjgK-ofjb9N-arLAe3-d13jP7-eap9Rs-pU3KfV-qTnX9y-9irXRC-nnuh3-dziXiv-bqw4ft-7LXzaG-6voQ7g-nLdpEM-82nxSZ-7RXLgA-7HFjSC-gLxWjE-cAKLcj-9nFZMQ-khJ1Ak-dhjS15-dzpsem-dziXhx-bUqa8S-o1DLsd-psfDE4-akxr6G-dgag22-cbeQNU-dhjS6u-nZSKh8-eaiqak-eaiqoX-8xdbZA-eaizsk">MCC Current</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What this means is that some campus officers who experience nondeferential behavior from students may overreact and thereby create conflict. </p>
<p>How an officer <a href="http://www.justice.gov/archive/crs/pubs/principlesofgoodpolicingfinal092003.pdf">responds</a> to such challenges is a function of both the officer’s <a href="http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=336&issue_id=72004">individual judgment</a> and how well he or she is indoctrinated into the culture of the department (specifically) and the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235203000023">culture of policing</a> (more broadly). </p>
<p>The <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wRugBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=%22police+culture%22&ots=qR7TwJnA2J&sig=GVHxgh8TtWSxgJsiwFAf6zZvjsM#v=onepage&q=%22police%20culture%22&f=false">police culture</a> variously has been described as including certain core values: group loyalty, the police as “crime fighters,” organizational tension with superiors and distrust of citizens. Those values are then learned by new officers and reinforced by veteran officers.</p>
<h2>Ideology and policing</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/biology-ideology-john-hibbing-negativity-bias">Conservatives</a>, including those who are police officers, typically support traditional social and cultural arrangements, thereby emphasizing stability and continuity. Such themes also fit nicely into the culture of policing.</p>
<p>For these police officers, challenges to stability, such as those posed by “fashion statements” like sagging, must be dealt with swiftly and with certainty.</p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2003.tb01012.x/abstract">Research</a> shows that officers who closely embody the values of the police culture are more coercive during interactions with citizens compared with those failing to align with that culture.</p>
<p>If campus officers whose political and social ideology falls more on the conservative side of the ledger have been socialized into and accept the values associated with the police culture, which includes higher levels of authoritarian personality traits, we should not be surprised to learn of such incidents where officers may respond inappropriately.</p>
<h2>What’s the solution?</h2>
<p>Today’s college campuses are increasingly <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Campus-Crime-Social-Policy-Perspectives/dp/0398088586/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443218081&sr=1-1&keywords=Campus+Crime%3A+Legal%2C+Social+and+Policy+Perspectives">diverse and complex places</a> that often resemble small cities. Further, not since the 1960s have college students been involved in <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/05/the-renaissance-of-student-activism/393749/">activism</a> like they are today. </p>
<p>This situation creates unique challenges – and opportunities – for campus police officers. </p>
<p>Campus officers are “real cops,” sworn law enforcement personnel who have completed training in academies certified by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (<a href="https://www.iadlest.org/">IADLEST</a>). IADLEST serves as the national forum of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) agencies, boards and commissions as well as statewide training academies throughout the United States. </p>
<p>On the other hand, unlike officers employed in municipal and state police departments, there is wide variation in the availability of in-service training for campus officers.</p>
<p>One solution might be for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (<a href="http://www.iaclea.org/visitors/about/">IACLEA</a>), the organization responsible for <a href="http://www.nacubo.org/Business_Officer_Magazine/Magazine_Archives/May_2014/Safety_Certified.html">accrediting</a> campus law enforcement agencies, to design and implement some required annual number of hours of in-service training in conflict resolution and related activities to help campus officers better understand social cultural differences between them and the students they police. </p>
<p>Doing this may help reduce conflicts arising between campus police and citizens – students and nonstudents alike. </p>
<p>Ensuring that campus police officers have the best possible preparation for doing their jobs benefits everyone: the officers, the college or university and those interacting with the officers. </p>
<p>Implementing in-service training to help campus officers adapt to an increasingly complex and changing landscape would seem a reasonable step to help reduce conflict between officers and citizens and increase student trust of, and confidence in, their campus police.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John J Sloan, III receives funding from the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Justice Programs, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, and the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Routine interrogations between police officers and students have escalated into physical conflicts. Why do such escalations occur?John J. Sloan III, Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology , University of Alabama at BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/446442015-08-13T05:55:08Z2015-08-13T05:55:08ZHere’s how rape on campus remains a hidden crime<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91489/original/image-20150811-14995-1fk3cgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">And what are universities doing about it? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolframburner/10304330045/in/photolist-gGyojR-oy6DgC-niZoDm-7WEzA9-7WEypC-7WBjVD-7WEyTN-ptMZBB-oPtLp2-ptR7uB-nCqdTC-nCg386-niZmSN-9BPw5H-rnNZ9c-edGUon-9C7LFP-nCcxPN-sjAcYw-smHSfb-edNzao-9chSab-4NnxQC-nYTMPE-nYTMTh-nYTYvN-qmvKqc-mWJaXR-nox8c3-8LXnRq-rskNjx-owt7Ha-qmkyuF-q4XVBQ-ppwwSd-q4XmpL-mWKcFt-byb2b5-notKka-nGNYNc-nQtrvJ-eefZ2p-fi4KXE-byb1Sf-bxDQPE-rnNZhZ-fhMUcr-fhMVGK-fi3cRb-nN8CBQ">Wolfram Burner</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The myth has been shattered. The college campus, it turns out, is not always a sheltered sanctuary of peaceful, rolling green lawns and ivy-covered brick. </p>
<p>The reality of sexual assault at college has been brought home by recent investigations by the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html">Office for Civil Rights</a> of no fewer than 85 universities in the US for their handling (or lack of handling) of sexual violence. </p>
<p>These investigations are just one part of a flurry of attention directed at colleges, from a series of high-profile rape cases to a <a href="https://www.notalone.gov/assets/report.pdf">White House report</a> estimating that 20% of women on campus are subject to sexual assault. </p>
<p>Of course, rape is a crime about secrecy and shame. So, most cases of rape are <a href="http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/rape-sexual-violence/pages/rape-notification.aspx">never reported</a>. </p>
<p>But in this age of global information, where so much data is freely published and shared online, surely the dawn is breaking. Or is it? </p>
<p>I recently led a research team that began examining how well university and college websites bring pertinent and relevant information to their students about how to prevent and respond to sexual assault on campus. </p>
<h2>What can websites tell?</h2>
<p>My colleagues and I began the study (currently being reviewed for publication) by listing all colleges that receive federal aid. We then randomly selected a sample of 150 to examine more closely. </p>
<p>Our research question was simple: if a student is a victim or a bystander of sexual assault, what help and guidance can they find from their university’s website?</p>
<p>To some adults, this question may seem nonsensical. Wouldn’t someone who had witnessed or been victimized by sexual assault simply pick up the phone? But the fact is that today the <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/">internet</a> has become the primary, and preferred, place to go to for information for most youth. </p>
<p>And because it’s an impersonal and anonymous way of accessing knowledge, it often gets consulted before someone decides if they want to go to the authorities to report a crime. </p>
<p>Here is what we found:</p>
<p>First, the good news. </p>
<p>Overall, we found that it was unusual for colleges to completely ignore the topic of sexual assault; only 15% had literally no mention of it on their website.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91491/original/image-20150811-11101-1hi8ebm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91491/original/image-20150811-11101-1hi8ebm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91491/original/image-20150811-11101-1hi8ebm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91491/original/image-20150811-11101-1hi8ebm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91491/original/image-20150811-11101-1hi8ebm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91491/original/image-20150811-11101-1hi8ebm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91491/original/image-20150811-11101-1hi8ebm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Information could save lives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolframburner/17115401539/in/photolist-s5qUzZ-8QQgXC-2zm8L1-8QMbSH-8QQgRG-8QMbRx-8QMbVD-6icQbA-9wbba5-gGy2ZS-gGyojR-oy6DgC-niZoDm-7WEzA9-7WEypC-7WBjVD-7WEyTN-ptMZBB-oPtLp2-ptR7uB-nCqdTC-nCg386-niZmSN-9BPw5H-rnNZ9c-edGUon-9C7LFP-nCcxPN-sjAcYw-smHSfb-edNzao-9chSab-4NnxQC-nYTMPE-nYTMTh-nYTYvN-qmvKqc-mWJaXR-nox8c3-8LXnRq-rskNjx-owt7Ha-qmkyuF-q4XVBQ-ppwwSd-q4XmpL-mWKcFt-byb2b5-notKka-nGNYNc">Wolfram Burner</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Two-thirds or more of the websites did contain very general information about their policy, how to report a crime, and the campus police phone number. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, from there it all goes downhill. </p>
<p>Only one-third or fewer of the websites had any information that might be useful to a victim of sexual assault, such as a hotline number, the importance of preserving evidence or how to report sexual assault to police. </p>
<p>Most surprisingly, despite overwhelming evidence that sexual assault is underreported, and the resultant need for anonymous methods of reporting, <a href="https://www.notalone.gov/assets/report.pdf">only 15% of university websites</a> offered any information about how to file an anonymous report.</p>
<h2>Information that can save lives</h2>
<p>Another bit of crucial information that was either missing or not emphasized enough was the need for immediate medical care. </p>
<p>As a parent I cannot emphasize enough how much I would want my son or daughter to understand the immediate and critical need for medical care, if ever she were to be a victim of sexual assault. </p>
<p>Such an assault can result in internal injuries, a sexually transmitted disease, and/or an unplanned pregnancy. </p>
<p>In addition, it can lead to psychological aftereffects that can include post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, extreme anxiety, and even suicide. Emergency medical teams can be literally lifesaving; they address physical needs, direct victims to psychological support and counseling, and help preserve evidence. </p>
<p>Yet of the 30% of college websites that mentioned the need for medical care, only 18.7% (not quite two-thirds) emphasized this need strongly. </p>
<p>That is, more than a third of the websites only used suggestive language, such as: <em>victims should consider medical care</em>, instead of describing how important medical care is for victims or using statements such as: <em>it is important that you seek immediate medical attention.</em></p>
<p>It’s possible that some schools fear that by posting such specific, helpful information, they may be implying that sexual assault occurs on their campus. At other institutions, administrators may cling to the belief that rape is rare or even nonexistent at their college. </p>
<h2>Information matters</h2>
<p>Clearly, as this study has shown, colleges have far to go if they want to provide their campus communities with truly useful and meaningful online guidance in cases of sexual assault.</p>
<p>Institutions of higher education have options when it comes to what they want to post online. On the one hand, it’s not too hard to understand why campuses might not want to post, for example, the number of sexual assaults reported over the past year. </p>
<p>However, there is a great deal of important information that they could and should provide. If they have a policy regarding sexual assault, that information should <em>always</em> be provided. </p>
<p>Furthermore, they can post a lot of other information – the campus police number; a phone number for a sexual assault hotline; addresses or phone numbers for medical assistance (including emergency rooms or facilities that specialize in helping victims of sexual assault); and contact information for counseling or follow-up support after an assault. </p>
<p>None of this information leaves the impression that a campus is unusually unsafe. Instead, it leaves the impression that the campus community cares about preventing sexual assault. </p>
<p>Today, no campus can be assumed to be 100% safe, and schools can introduce information about sexual assault by pointing out that sensible precautions and access to quality information can help keep everyone safer and happier. </p>
<p>Ultimately, it’ll be pressure from parents and students to make such information available. And that is likely to be the most potent catalyst for change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44644/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Englander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Do university and college websites give students enough information about how to prevent and respond to sexual assaults on campus? Here’s a reality check.Elizabeth Englander, Professor of Psychology, and the Director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC), Bridgewater State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/455382015-08-03T10:17:53Z2015-08-03T10:17:53ZAfter Cincinnati, the big question: who are the campus police, anyway?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90514/original/image-20150801-17151-pbgm3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It was only in the seventies that campus police came to be formally recognized.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inventorchris2/8210469306/in/photolist-dvwNtC-5dJRhh-6voQ7g-9hrRCd-7XMBuQ-9nFYZo-nLdpEM-a3U9dK-82nxSZ-fyNfSW-7RXLgA-9Z6rRF-bVBNTK-9nCXqH-872zQ-dvwNqj-7HFjSC-9nCYne-cAKLcj-9nFZMQ-fypmH2-dvrdrg-dvFhwR-9zo1kE-dhjS15-dzpsem-dV6Gat-dziXhx-3KDAvi-bUqa8S-o1DLsd-d13eWU-gLxWjE-psfDE4-51rTbH-7RUydH-kDzYUq-82nxcn-dvLSnW-9nFZUQ-akxr6G-nLdxfB-bn3KrA-dgag22-cbeQNU-dhjS6u-9nCY4K-9nCYrX-nZSKh8-eaiqak">C Holmes</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On July 29, University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/us/university-of-cincinnati-officer-indicted-in-shooting-death-of-motorist.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article">indicted</a> on murder charges in the shooting death of unarmed motorist Samuel Dubose. </p>
<p>In 2013, University of South Alabama police officer Trevis Austin shot and killed Gil Collar, an 18-year-old freshman who was running around the campus nude while apparently under the influence of a new hallucinogenic drug called <a href="http://blog.al.com/live/2013/03/what_is_25-i_the_drug_used_by.html">25-I</a>. A grand jury convened in that case declined to indict Officer Austin.</p>
<p>Incidents like these have raised <em>major</em> concerns about how <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/31/campus-police-officers-perceptions-samuel-dubose-shooting">campus police officers</a> interact with citizens.</p>
<p>While campus police departments have existed since the late 1960s, people typically know little about these officers, their training or their jurisdictional authority.</p>
<p>How did campus police evolve and what is their role, mission and authority?</p>
<h2>Enforcing rules on college campuses</h2>
<p>American colleges and universities have existed for over 400 years and have always had a great deal of <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/sociology/sociology-general-interest/dark-side-ivory-tower-campus-crime-social-problem?format=PB">violence, vice and victimization</a>.</p>
<p>For much of their history, colleges and universities handled violations of campus rules – including serious violations of the law – internally under the legal doctrine <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/philip_lee/files/vol8lee.pdf"><em>in loco parentis</em></a>, Latin for “in place of the parents.” </p>
<p>The doctrine allowed colleges to regulate students’ personal conduct, including speech and movement, and take disciplinary action against them without a hearing. </p>
<p>That tradition effectively ended in 1961 in the case of <a href="http://www.stetson.edu/law/faculty/bickel/civilrights/media/case-digest-dixon-v-alabama.pdf">Dixon v Alabama State Board of Education</a>, where the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that students had a due process right to hearings relating to disciplinary matters. </p>
<p>That ruling helped pave the way for the creation of campus police departments to help regulate student conduct. </p>
<h2>Police on campus</h2>
<p>Although the first known instance of police officers <a href="http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/ajpol11&div=18&id=&page=">patrolling a college campus</a> occurred in 1899 when Yale University hired two off-duty City of New Haven police officers to patrol the campus at night, that type of arrangement remained unique through most of the 20th century. Instead, deans of students and campus watchmen – who were little more than maintenance personnel – handled student violations of campus rules. </p>
<p>It was in the late 1960s that things dramatically changed. Local police officers arrived on many college campuses in response to student protests and riots relating to the Vietnam War. Encounters with police officers often left students bruised, battered and in handcuffs; sometimes the encounters were fatal.</p>
<p>As Political Science Professor Jennifer Burke and I have shown in our research on <a href="http://www.ccthomas.com/details.cfm?P_ISBN13=9780398088576">campus crime</a>, alumni and members of boards of regents (the governing body that oversees a particular university) were horrified at having local police on their campuses. </p>
<p>And so they joined with college and university presidents to lobby state legislatures to allow schools to create their own police departments that would employ sworn officers with full arrest powers. </p>
<h2>Birth and development of campus police</h2>
<p>By the early 1970s, enabling legislation and the demise of <em>in loco parentis</em> redefined the relationship of universities with their students. It was during that decade that state-sanctioned campus police departments slowly began to appear around the country. </p>
<p>Large, public universities where much <a href="http://archives.library.wisc.edu/uw-archives/exhibits/protests/1960s.html">student unrest</a> had taken place were generally the first to create campus police departments. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90512/original/image-20150801-17158-1dr90zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90512/original/image-20150801-17158-1dr90zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90512/original/image-20150801-17158-1dr90zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90512/original/image-20150801-17158-1dr90zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90512/original/image-20150801-17158-1dr90zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90512/original/image-20150801-17158-1dr90zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90512/original/image-20150801-17158-1dr90zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The responsibilities of today’s campus police extend beyond the ivory tower.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/therealmichaelmoore/5495714207/in/photolist-9nCYne-9nCXqH-9nFZMQ-6iP4uL-5AxiFe-aFn7SA-8oXzNh-akDipx-akDehk-akDemP-akG1Hu-aFisp4-akG2pC-akG1DY-akDczv-akDdf4-8JUo7G-akDeWn-5rMJv-9nFYUJ-aFigTk-aFixug-9nFYZo-akFTiQ-bknmh6-9nCXvr-aFnavU-7Tx3yN-jsfq8h-9nFZUQ-aFigmZ-aFn5Uj-aFn6Zw-aFn4kh-aFn4Ps-aFnd1s-aFn6ns-aFn9oh-aFin38-aFinAe-aFijZT-c6kA41-9nFYNY-aFn3HJ-9nCY4K-9nCYrX-pripqq-7o3cg-7o5hU-7o5Vh">Michael Moore</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Typically, these early agencies were run by experienced, senior-level officers hired from local police departments. They were given the title of “Chief of Campus Police” and the latitude to hire and fire officers as needed. </p>
<p>Officers hired by these departments were usually required to complete the same academy training that municipal police officers were required to complete. </p>
<p>During the 1980s, the pace at which campus police agencies were being created quickened. This was in part because of efforts by grassroots organizations concerned about students’ safety on campus. For example, the <a href="http://clerycenter.org/">Clery Center for Security on Campus</a> engaged in major congressional lobbying to get policymakers to address campus crime. Public health researchers and feminists also lobbied Congress to address campus crime.</p>
<p>Subsequently, departments began appearing at all sorts of colleges and universities: two- and four-year, public and private, residential and commuter, rural and urban, sectarian and nonsectarian. </p>
<p>They also preferred hiring veteran officers who had completed police academy training because they could be put to work immediately. </p>
<p>Early campus police departments copied the <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/13639510310503541?journalCode=pijpsm">organizational characteristics</a> of their municipal counterparts. They adopted a top-down flow of communication, a hierarchical rank structure and specialized operations (eg, patrol officers and detectives; community relations personnel; crime prevention officers). </p>
<p>Patrol was organized into two or three daily shifts, 8–10 hours in length, that began with a “roll call.” Officers patrolled campus in cars clearly marked as police vehicles. They wore distinct uniforms and were equipped with weapons (including handguns), two-way radios, handcuffs, batons, etc.</p>
<p>They responded to calls for service via a centralized dispatch system that people (students, faculty members or staff) could call when they needed police services on campus. </p>
<h2>Maturation of campus police departments</h2>
<p>During the 1990s, still more departments were created. By <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cle0405.pdf">2004</a>, about 75% of four-year schools enrolling 2,500 or more students were served by officers with full arrest powers. Two thirds of the schools employed armed officers.</p>
<p>As these agencies came into their own during the 1990s, they implemented extensive <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cle0405.pdf">pre-employment screening</a> for prospective hires that included background investigations, checks of driving records, interviews with references, psychological screening, drug testing and so on. </p>
<p>They also were less inclined to hire veteran officers from other agencies, preferring instead to develop their own officers. </p>
<p>The 1990s also saw campus police agencies become fully embedded into the fabric of campus life. Beyond routine patrol, officers engaged in crime prevention activities, provided safety and security training for students and staff and self-defense training for women. They also engaged in other outreach activities. </p>
<p>Departments also shifted their patrol tactics and began relying more on bicycle, foot and, in some cases, mounted patrol. They altered their organizational philosophy away from one that stressed rapid response to calls for service, to one that emphasized proactive, <a href="http://www.ors.od.nih.gov/ser/dp/Community/Pages/Community-Policing-Philosophy.aspx">community-oriented policing</a>.</p>
<h2>A whole new set of issues</h2>
<p>Post-9/11, campus agencies developed formal cooperative agreements with city and county sheriffs’ departments, which included routine, joint training exercises. </p>
<p>Training for campus police officers expanded. Some agencies now <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cle0405.pdf">require</a> over 1,000 hours of academy and field training for officers. </p>
<p>And, since the early 2000s, campus police departments have not only grown in size, but also became more <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cle0405.pdf">diverse</a>, as more women and members of minority groups were hired.</p>
<p>Additionally, as illustrated by the Cincinnati case, campus officers now have jurisdiction beyond the campus boundaries and find themselves engaging in routine patrol in neighborhoods surrounding a specific college or university. At least one reason for this is that students live in these neighborhoods.</p>
<p>A recent Bureau of Justice Statistics <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cle1112.pdf">survey of campus police departments</a> revealed that during 2011-2012, nearly <em>90%</em> of campus police officers in the US had patrol and arrest jurisdiction off campus, which put these officers into direct contact with many more nonstudents and created a whole new set of issues, again tragically illustrated by the <a href="http://www.hcpros.org/tensing">Cincinnati incident</a>.</p>
<h2>What is the need for campus police?</h2>
<p>As the responsibilities of campus police officers extend beyond the “ivory tower” and into communities surrounding colleges and universities, they are more likely to encounter situations typically handled by municipal police officers including traffic stops, citizens with mental health issues and members of minority groups. </p>
<p>They will also encounter more potentially violent situations.</p>
<p>Of late, <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/07/30/body-cameras-officers-fatal-shootings/">body cameras</a> worn by campus officers are expected to address concerns about how they interact with citizens. Considering that Officer Tensing was wearing a body camera, I believe such an assumption is invalid. </p>
<p>Perhaps a more fundamental question that needs answering in light of the Cincinnati shooting is whether campus police officers <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/2227789/sam-dubose-campus-police-armed/">are even needed</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Sloan receives funding from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), and the National Science Foundation (NSF)..</span></em></p>Campus police have been in existence for only about 40 years or so. But they are taking on an ever bigger role.John J. Sloan III, Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology , University of Alabama at BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.