> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • The Evolution of Race in Admissions
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
Campus Safety
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Here’s What We Know About Private-College Police Departments

By  Dan Bauman
April 5, 2018
The University of Chicago Police Department, one of many private-college forces with the power to arrest and detain, has faced repeated accusations of racial profiling. The department has drawn new scrutiny this week after the shooting of a student who reportedly charged an officer with a metal pole.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
The University of Chicago Police Department, one of many private-college forces with the power to arrest and detain, has faced repeated accusations of racial profiling. The department has drawn new scrutiny this week after the shooting of a student who reportedly charged an officer with a metal pole.

Four years ago, Quinn Lester was decidedly not an expert on police-accountability issues and law-enforcement abuses. Fresh off completing his bachelor’s at Pomona College, Lester’s main focus in 2014 was completing his Ph.D. in political science at the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore.

But this year, when Hopkins indicated it would seek permission from the State of Maryland to obtain arrest powers for its campus security officers, Lester was among a group of students, community groups, and local residents who beat that proposal back. In the face of an intense lobbying campaign, Hopkins announced this week that it would reconsider the plan.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

The University of Chicago Police Department, one of many private-college forces with the power to arrest and detain, has faced repeated accusations of racial profiling. The department has drawn new scrutiny this week after the shooting of a student who reportedly charged an officer with a metal pole.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
The University of Chicago Police Department, one of many private-college forces with the power to arrest and detain, has faced repeated accusations of racial profiling. The department has drawn new scrutiny this week after the shooting of a student who reportedly charged an officer with a metal pole.

Four years ago, Quinn Lester was decidedly not an expert on police-accountability issues and law-enforcement abuses. Fresh off completing his bachelor’s at Pomona College, Lester’s main focus in 2014 was completing his Ph.D. in political science at the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore.

But this year, when Hopkins indicated it would seek permission from the State of Maryland to obtain arrest powers for its campus security officers, Lester was among a group of students, community groups, and local residents who beat that proposal back. In the face of an intense lobbying campaign, Hopkins announced this week that it would reconsider the plan.

For Lester, the metamorphosis from ambivalence to activism didn’t start because of run-ins with police or a general distrust of authority. It started with Freddie Gray. According to an autopsy report obtained by The Baltimore Sun, Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man, died in 2015 from a single “high-energy injury” to his neck and spine while being transported by Baltimore police. The state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, citing officers for failure to follow safety policies. Charges against the officers ranged from murder to illegal arrest, though the cases eventually ended in mistrial, acquittals, or dropped charges.

The movement at Hopkins is a continuation of the activism seen on American campuses in the wake of the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in Ferguson, Mo. That incident spawned the Black Lives Matter movement, which resonated on campuses nationwide, including the University of Missouri at Columbia. More recently, campus activists have homed in on the role of law enforcement, as in 2017 protests at Georgia Tech that followed the fatal shooting of a student by campus police.

ADVERTISEMENT

Now, campus police forces are coming under increased scrutiny at private institutions like Hopkins and the University of Chicago. Throughout its history, the University of Chicago Police Department has faced repeated accusations of racial profiling. A 2016 analysis by The Chicago Reporter found that all but 11 of the local nonstudent residents who were stopped and questioned by UCPD were African-American.

Officials with Johns Hopkins declined to be interviewed for this article. In a statement published on its website, the university said it welcomed amendments to the bill that would have granted arrest powers to Hopkins officers, including the creation of an accountability board and annual disclosures of police interactions. “These changes will allow us to reach our goal of building a model university police department that reflects the highest standards and best practices of policing nationally,” President Ronald J. Daniels wrote in the statement. The university said the desire to seek arrest powers arose from increased incidents of serious crime near its campus locations since 2015.

What do we know about private-college police departments? For one thing, they’re more common than one might think. Ninety-six police forces at private universities and colleges reported one arrest or more between 2006 and 2015 to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to an analysis by The Chronicle. An additional 100 four-year private universities told the U.S. Department of Justice in 2011-12 that their police forces included at least one sworn police officer — that is, an officer with full arrest powers granted by a state or local authority. (This count of 196 private-college and university police forces is very likely understated because of the voluntary nature of arrest reporting to the FBI and the limited scope of the Justice Department survey.)

Lester said the position of the particular student group to which he belongs, Students Against Private Police, is that the university should find alternative ways of dealing with crime in the area, such as municipal safety initiatives.

“In no way has Hopkins justified why even a police force with a lot of caveats attached to it would be any better or safer,” Lester said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Concerns About Accountability

As private-university police departments have gained greater law-enforcement powers, state legislatures and courts have wrestled with what regulations and protections cover the officers.

The Texas Supreme Court and Texas Court of Appeals ruled a Rice University police officer could not be held liable for an arrest that ended with dropped charges. The court found that the officer was entitled to the same protections from legal claims arising against public officials acting in their sanctioned capacities. The North Carolina Court of Appeals reached a similar conclusion for the Duke University Police Department after one of its officers fatally shot an alleged panhandler outside the university’s hospital. Officers and hospital visitors alleged that the man wrestled a firearm out of the officer’s holster and refused to release the weapon. Conversely, Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled that police officers at Agnes Scott College were not entitled to such an immunity.

Transparency is also a concern, Lester and other advocates say. In 2016 the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that state-imbued arrest powers did not require the University of Notre Dame to give ESPN crime reports that pertained to student athletes. And a 2016 review by the Student Press Law Center found that only Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia had enacted legislation requiring some sort of disclosure by private police departments sanctioned by the state. And even in states with transparency laws, some private-university actors fail to adhere to the spirit of the law. In the case of Duke, the university has typically provided only the first page of police reports while sometimes redacting portions of that single page.

But unlike municipal police departments, private-college police departments are required to comply with crime and safety reporting under the Clery Act, said David Tedjeske, director of public safety and chief of police at Villanova University. In addition, Tedjeske, who is also Mid-Atlantic Region director of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, said strict federal laws require college police departments to issue timely alerts to their communities when particular criminal activity occurs on or near campus. And, when it comes to pertinent information related to criminal procedure, Tedjeske said those records can always be accessed through the courts.

“I take issue a little bit with the assertion that we are not as accountable as our municipal counterparts,” Tedjeske said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Firearms and Jurisdictions

This week, a University of Chicago police officer shot a student after the man reportedly charged the officer with a metal pole. The student is recovering and has since been charged. His mother claims he was having a psychotic episode.

The Justice Department survey of four-year universities and colleges with 2,500 or more students found that 38 percent of private colleges used sworn police officers in their security operations. Of those 153 departments, 82 percent were authorized to carry sidearms. By contrast, 92 percent of public universities within that cohort used sworn police officers. Nearly all were authorized to use sidearms.

In general, campus police need to be armed because active-shooter situations occur on campus, Tedjeske said. “There have been times when an armed campus officer has intervened against an active shooter and saved lives.”

Not all university police jurisdictions are created equal. Three-quarters of private-college police departments told the Department Justice their jurisdiction extended to properties adjacent to campus. Nearly 60 percent said their jurisdictions applied to properties outside the area surrounding campus. Twenty percent of departments said they had the authority to make arrests statewide.

Michael Vasquez contributed to this report.

ADVERTISEMENT

Dan Bauman is a reporter who investigates and writes about all things data in higher education. Tweet him at @danbauman77 or email him at dan.bauman@chronicle.com.


Private-College Police Departments
With Power to Arrest and Detain

InstitutionSworn police officersGrand total of arrests (06-15)2015201420132012201120102009200820072006
Sewanee-The University of the South N/A 2106 247 269 241 292 207 262 127 244 109 108
Dickinson College N/A 1818 15 32 54 46 64 445 313 266 332 251
Ferrum College N/A 540 29 55 80 61 35 77 59 46 55 43
Moravian College N/A 422 23 18 13 54 39 27 44 74 57 73
Christian Brothers University N/A 354 24 30 42 71 65 28 15 43 21 15
Columbia College N/A 204 50 23 33 35 14 5 9 15 13 7
Marietta College N/A 170 0 4 0 0 4 16 32 48 48 18
Mount Holyoke College N/A 132 4 10 6 6 12 14 14 16 32 18
Muskingum University N/A 112 8 2 0 3 2 20 0 15 36 26
Mount Saint Joseph University N/A 96 0 0 1 30 22 17 15 8 0 3
Marian University N/A 80 5 2 10 14 2 11 4 15 13 4
Morehouse College N/A 74 0 27 13 12 11 9 2 0 0 0
Young Harris College N/A 74 3 6 3 4 8 5 12 21 12 0
Lasell College N/A 74 8 3 1 8 6 10 10 16 12 0
Austin College N/A 73 1 8 2 3 7 11 5 20 11 5
Dean College N/A 66 3 1 0 7 14 13 7 0 12 9
Berry College N/A 63 6 16 9 10 10 4 0 1 4 3
Spartanburg Methodist College N/A 50 2 6 7 4 5 3 8 6 9 0
Notre Dame College N/A 42 18 11 4 1 2 0 4 2
Amherst College N/A 26 4 4 0 0 0 7 7 4
Bridgewater College N/A 25 25
Hardin-Simmons University N/A 23 0 1 2 1 4 3 2 4 1 5
Davidson College N/A 22 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9
Wilberforce University N/A 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 7 8
Pfeiffer University N/A 20 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 4 9
Southwestern University N/A 19 0 8 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 6
Hampshire College N/A 17 2 2 2 6 3 2
Agnes Scott College N/A 13 0 3 1 7 1 0 0 1 0 0
Lincoln Memorial University N/A 11 6 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Emory & Henry College N/A 11 0 1 4 0 1 4 0 0 1 0
Erskine College N/A 8 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
Spelman College N/A 7 0 0 1 1 3 2 0 0 0 0
Wheaton College N/A 6 0 6
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute N/A 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4
Methodist University N/A 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 1
Mount Ida College N/A 4 1 3
Dillard University N/A 3 0 0 3
Stonehill College N/A 2 2
Morehouse School of Medicine N/A 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Becker College N/A 1 0 1
Regis College N/A 1 1
Wellesley College N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
University of Rio Grande N/A 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
University of Pennsylvania 116
University of Southern California 102
Howard University 94
University of Chicago 92 0 0 0 0
Tulane University of Louisiana 91 808 91 99 51 27 33 44 74 80 152 157
George Washington University 90
Vanderbilt University 88 5916 602 375 400 417 521 633 843 650 763 712
Yale University 84 1061 99 125 115 197 125 76 88 86 69 81
Harvard University 80 551 37 62 44 46 46 39 52 64 77 84
Syracuse University 72 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Duke University 70 1302 87 98 133 108 129 90 264 154 109 130
Boston University 55 1470 120 179 95 135 168 142 90 156 169 216
Georgetown University 55
Northeastern University 54 5987 658 586 783 803 555 500 362 482 574 684
Emory University 53 594 96 76 55 74 81 67 47 49 29 20
Boston College 53 402 10 6 12 26 24 41 37 78 107 61
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 52 335 71 35 28 38 37 16 21 25 37 27
Cornell University 51 4356 307 430 509 506 413 336 625 446 369 415
Brown University 49 112 14 22 33 23 8 12 0 0 0 0
Northwestern University 47 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Catholic University of America 46
Smith College 45 40 1 0 2 0 0 9 14 14
Loyola University Maryland 45
University of Notre Dame 41
Tufts University 39 161 8 15 16 18 18 13 0 25 28 20
Brigham Young University-Provo 38 988 61 63 98 106 64 100 106 109 140 141
Drexel University 34
Suffolk University 33
American University 33
Wake Forest University 33
Duquesne University 32
Loyola University Chicago 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stanford University 30
University of Dayton 29
University of Miami 29
Hampton University 28 309 30 37 63 40 25 37 28 17 19 13
Merrimack College 28 274 18 25 45 34 35 27 33 23 14 20
Princeton University 28 137 50 52 35
Southern Methodist University 27 1863 114 192 154 120 153 164 208 175 219 364
Washington University in St Louis 27 613 26 41 31 54 38 59 96 93 92 83
Indiana Wesleyan University-Marion 27
Baylor University 26 2353 209 197 209 234 235 191 232 198 339 309
Rice University 26 1543 128 130 197 137 132 143 157 149 186 184
Texas Christian University 26 204 19 40 24 39 19 6 15 12 19 11
Loyola University New Orleans 25
Xavier University of Louisiana 25
Lehigh University 24 2316 190 210 215 221 263 243 253 217 219 285
Benedict College 24 930 141 98 145 134 50 128 79 24 53 78
Mercer University 24 193 18 17 14 14 29 7 30 23 29 12
Bentley University 24 112 8 15 12 13 11 9 8 9 5 22
Canisius College 24
Liberty University 24
College of the Holy Cross 24
Brandeis University 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Regent University 23
University of Richmond 22 178 30 15 8 11 21 31 16 10 15 21
Carnegie Mellon University 22
Xavier University 22
Monmouth University 21 526 55 57 55 49 63 71 60 116
Springfield College 21 115 8 13 4 10 10 18 14 9 9 20
Bradley University 21
Case Western Reserve University 21
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor 21
University of Indianapolis 21
Ithaca College 20 3133 326 381 252 307 331 463 314 270 296 193
St. Mary’s University 20 513 69 58 26 27 69 52 97 27 48 40
University of the Incarnate Word 20
Bucknell University 20
Mid-America Christian University 20
Emerson College 19 36 0 1 1 6 5 1 4 9 5 4
Babson College 19 0 0
University of Detroit Mercy 19
Saint Xavier University 19
Butler University 18 307 107 91 63 46
Western New England University 18 145 9 9 12 13 16 18 23 20 16 9
Tuskegee University 18 31 12 19 0 0
Gordon College 18 0 0
Concordia University-Wisconsin 18
Assumption College 17 518 28 20 21 25 21 15 26 110 126 126
Stevens Institute of Technology 17 58 10 8 9 5 9 6 11 0
Worcester Polytechnic Institute 17 35 10 9 3 5 0 3 3 2
American International College 17
University of Scranton 17
University of New Haven 17
Trinity University 16 992 68 160 172 143 119 105 37 83 84 21
Clark Atlanta University 16 642 7 33 37 43 43 59 91 79 117 133
Simmons College 16 2 0 2
John Carroll University 16
Saint Edward’s University 16
Friends University 16
Walsh University 16
Clark University 15 65 3 4 5 8 6 5 13 10 8 3
Abilene Christian University 15 14 1 0 0 0 0 3 2 5 0 3
University of Tulsa 15
Elon University 14 339 14 18 24 51 32 19 42 42 41 56
Piedmont College 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Benedictine University 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Furman University 14 0 0 0 0
Our Lady of the Lake University 14
University of the Pacific 14
Life University 14
Mercyhurst University 14
Anderson University 14
Mississippi College 14
Oklahoma City University 13 557 49 152 144 104 61 47
Houston Baptist University 13 103 57 0 15 4 5 6 5 3 5 3
Wentworth Institute of Technology 13 12 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Samford University 13 5 2 3 0 0
MCPHS University 12 7 7
Robert Morris University 12
York College Pennsylvania 12
Bob Jones University 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 11
Wayland Baptist University 11
Otterbein University 10 126 3 22 53 38 10 0 0
The College of Saint Rose 10
Gannon University 10
Aurora University 10
Saint Francis University 10
Franklin University 10
Valparaiso University 9
Carlow University 9
Capital University 8 28 8 8 6 2 0 1 0 3 0
Wilmington University 8
Trinity Washington University 8
DeSales University 8
Point Park University 8
Curry College 7 0 0
Berklee College of Music 7
Brenau University 7
Gardner-Webb University 6
Ashland University 6
Anderson University 6
McDaniel College 6
Campbell University 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LeTourneau University 5
Jacksonville University 5
Hamline University 5
Carroll University 5
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine 4
Southern New Hampshire University 4
Lewis University 3 0 0 0 0 0
University of St Thomas 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Flagler College-St Augustine 2
Stetson University 2
Drury University 2
Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus 2
Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus 2
North Central College 1
University of Evansville 1
Columbia College 1
Wingate University 1
Pacific Lutheran University 1

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program data and Department of Justice survey data, made available via the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research

Because to varying factors, comparisons between universities using arrest data are not recommended. Differences in jurisdictional area, as well as the presence of points of interest like hospitals, can skew per capita calculations. Because police departments are not required to report data as part of Uniform Crime Reporting program, data was not reported in some years, or, in many cases, at all.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Dan Bauman
Dan Bauman is a reporter who investigates and writes about all things data in higher education. Tweet him at @danbauman77, or email him at dan.bauman@chronicle.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Content

  • Private Colleges’ Police Departments Prepare for More Public Disclosure
  • Bring Campus Crime Reports Out Into the Open
  • Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
    Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
  • The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
    The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
    Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin