Policing Postsecondary Education: University Police Legitimacy and Fear of Crime on Campu

Assessing the perceptions that students have of the university police officers charged with ensuring student safety is important to maintaining the overall safety of the campus. The current study sought to assess the relationship between student perceptions of university police and the fear of crime felt by students while on campus. Data collection was conducted through a survey methodology using a convenient sample of students in which a self-report survey was sent to the university email addresses of all students enrolled in a southeastern university (n=260). Through the employment of a scale developed to assess the perceptions of university police legitimacy and a similar scale to assess fear of crime, the results of the study demonstrate a relationship exists between the variables. The relationship strengthens when demographics are controlled for. This study was designed to add to the limited amount of research examining perceptions of university law enforcements.