Date of Award

January 2019

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Charles S. Hausman

Department Affiliation

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Second Advisor

Amy Thieme

Department Affiliation

Communication

Third Advisor

Laurence Hayes

Department Affiliation

American Sign Language and Interpreter Education

Abstract

This paper was written to examine the impact of dedicated university police departments relative to reporting Clery statistics, fundamental information that prospective students and their parents can use in selecting an institution of higher education. The prospect of gaining knowledge and bettering one’s life occurs best when taking place in a safe and transparent environment. While college and university campuses are not immune to crime, similar to society as a whole, they are statistically safer places by which learning can occur.

The college years are instrumental in shaping the lives and mindset of America’s youth by exposing them to a variety of cultural experiences and divergent beliefs. The higher education marketplace has become an exceedingly competitive environment wherein students, parents and society have an expectation of a safe environment. Campus administrators can best evaluate, control and mitigate issues if they are reported and data is analyzed to prevent similar instances in the future. Reporting and data acquisition is best accomplished by dedicated, trained and honorable administrators who desire to truly understand criminal activities occurring at their establishments.

An in-depth examination of literature concerning Clery statistics reveals the significant impact reported crime has on campuses of institutions of higher education (IHE’s). This data can be utilized to influence and affect change in preventing crime on college and university campuses. This paper specifically focuses on the difference in reported data from IHE’s with dedicated university police departments versus IHE’s without dedicated university police departments. This study revealed that the most prevalent reported crimes were disciplinary actions followed by arrests and criminal offenses. Paired samples t tests were conducted and determined that there was a statistical difference in the amount of crimes reported by IHE’s with a dedicated university police department versus IHE’s without a dedicated university police department for the crime categories of criminal offenses, VAWA offenses, arrests, disciplinary actions and fires. Hate crimes was the singular crime category analyzed that did not reveal a difference in the crime reporting for IHE’s with or without a dedicated university police department.

Download

Share

COinS