University police (or campus police) in the United States are sworn police officers employed by a college or university to protect the campus and surrounding areas and the people who live on, work on and visit it.

Most officers are commissioned through the state where they reside after undergoing a thorough educational regimen (usually the same police academy as local or state police officers). Officer complement can vary depending on the size of the institution and the number of students attending it.

History

As a result of the violent times of the 1960s and early 1970s, campus security officers proved ineffective against riots and other violent demonstrations. This sometimes resulted in injury to the students or to the officers. Security officers were untrained and unprepared to effectively deal with these events and local police departments were usually far away and too few. Creation of university/campus police departments began at this time. Laws were passed and campus security officers were now required to have a higher educational standard. Further training was given to officers to deal with campus-specific issues (including non-violent crisis management and riot training).

Creation of fully-trained police officers helped stem many of the problems that had occurred as a result of poorly managed security forces. Officers were better equipped to deal with campus specific issues, and had better understanding of law enforcement in a university environment.

Many colleges and universities now contribute to the community by hosting municipal police academies on their respective campuses.

External links

• University of Central Florida Police
• Temple University Police
• Penn State University Police Services
• Millersville University Police Department
• Department of Public Safety - University of Oregon
• Police State T-shirt

Law enforcement in the United States