1. UNC Charlotte Campus Police: Just crime fighters and ticket writers?
A study on UNCC Police and Public Safety’s focus on Community Oriented Policing
By: Travis Higgs
UNC Charlotte Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology – Fall 2015 Internship
Background
• UNCC’s Police and Public Safety (PPS)
currently has 52 sworn officers and 10
non sworn personnel
• Being an on campus department gives
the staff a very interesting population to
work with as the dynamic is different
than regular municipal police
departments
• With the focus group being students,
the approach must be different with a
concentration in community oriented
policing, and maintaining a positive
relationship with the members of UNCC
Objective
• The objective of this research is to
determine what the current PPS
personnel find the focus of their
profession to be
Methods
• Created an original survey using Google
Forms
• Sent the link to the survey to Chief
Baker, Director of PPS who then
requested personnel on 2 separate
occasions to participate
• Link to the survey was active from
November 24 – December 2
Limitations
• Response rate was 30% (N=18
completed surveys) thus results should
be viewed with caution
• Survey was only available to be taken
for 10 days
11%
45%
44%
Years working for Law Enforcement Agency
1-4 years 5-9 years 10+ years
5%
22%
56%
17%
Years as a sworn officer for UNCC Police and Public Safety
0 (Not a sworn officer) 1-4 years
5-9 years 10+ years
2
12
14
11
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Making arrests,
traffic stops and
writing citations
Interacting with
students and faculty
on a daily basis
Making the campus
safer
Building positive
relationships with
Community Policing
“What do you find most fulfilling about working for
Campus Police”
*Able to select more than one response
6
5
8 8
1 1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Traditional policing
activity (traffic
enforcement, making
drug arrests, responding
to calls)
Investigating criminal
activity (felony and
misdemeanor crimes)
Community policing
activities with significant
outreach to,the
community
Critical administrative
support (accreditation,
Clery, recruitment, etc)
My policing activities are
useless and unsatisfying
I am not a police officer
“What do you believe is your most significant contribution?
*Able to select more than one response
5%
6%
50%
33%
6%
“Overall, how much contribution do you believe you had to the safety
and security of UNC Charlotte while serving as a police officer for the
UNC Charlotte Police Department?”
2 (some contribution 3 (neutral) 4 (good contribution)
5 (most contribution) I am not a police officer
*There were 0 responses for ‘1 (least contribution)’
6%
17%
44%
33%
“How effective do you believe UNCC Police
Department's Community Policing efforts are?”
2 (somewhat effective) 3 (neutral)
4 (effective) 5 (most effective)
*There were 0 responses for ‘1 (least effective)’
Findings
• Making the campus a safer place has
the highest level of fulfillment for those
who responded (78%)
• Interacting with students is the next
most fulfilling aspect (67%)
• Typical police duties such as traffic
stops and arrests has the lowest level
of fulfillment for respondents (11%)
• 44% of respondents said UNCC Police
Department’s Community Policing
efforts are effective
• Half of the respondents said they feel
they are making a good contribution to
the safety of the campus
• Community policing activities and
administrative support were the most
significant contributions made (45%)
“What would you change about the
department?”
• Increase number of officers
• Have free college credit police courses
to improve education of incoming and
present officers
• Create a more aggressive drug
investigation team to help deter drug
use/sales on campus
• Officers and supervisors having a better
relationship outside of the department
• Change rotation of night and day shifts
from every 6 months to every month
• More incentive for department members
to stay longer
Responses to the Question: