Role Variations and Perceptions of Campus Police versus Local and State Law Enforcement

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to explore potential variations in students’ perceptions towards campus police (CP) roles and behaviours as compared with local and state law enforcement (LSLE). This study used a web-based survey to solicit responses from (n = 995) students. Results showed that students perceived traditional policing roles of higher import to LSES while rating campus-specific roles higher for CP. However, rank order of roles revealed remarkable similarities between policing agencies. Additionally, CP were perceived more favourably in terms of their behaviour, with similar participant characteristics predicting perceptions of CP and LSLE. Interactions with LSLE significantly affected perceptions of CP behaviour and vice versa, indicating a lack of distinction between CP and LSLE. While prior research suggests that CP is marginalized, the current analysis offers support that differences in role importance between CP and LSLE may be due to the unique needs of college campuses.