Title

Variability in the organizational structure of contemporary campus law enforcement agencies - A national-level analysis

Authors

Authors

E. A. Paoline;J. J. Sloan

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Policing-An Int J Police Strategies & Manag.

Keywords

police; universities; policing; organizations; organizational theory; United States of America; POLICE; SIZE; COMPLEXITY; DIFFERENTIATION; INSTITUTIONS; TECHNOLOGY; CRIME; Criminology & Penology

Abstract

Descriptive analyses of campus police agencies reveal that agencies' tactical and operational features are similar to those found in municipal agencies. The problem is that none of these studies have examined, using multivariate models, the structural characteristics of these organizations. Using LEMAS data collected in 1995, this study answered two main questions: what are the organizational characteristics of campus police agencies; and what factors, both internal and external, explain variation in the structural dimensions of the agencies. The results indicated that campus police agencies possess the same structural characteristics of municipal police agencies identified by 40 years of police organizational research, and internal agency characteristics were most important in explaining variation in the organizations' structural dimensions. The degree to which campus agencies have adopted organizational structures that are similar to those of municipal police is discussed and framed within an institutional perspective.

Journal Title

Policing-an International Journal of Police Strategies & Management

Volume

26

Issue/Number

4

Publication Date

1-1-2003

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Language

English

First Page

612

Last Page

639

WOS Identifier

WOS:000189184100005

ISSN

1363-951X

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