20 Universities with the Largest Police Departments in the US

Zahaab Rehman
11 min read

In This Article:

In this article, we take a look at the 20 universities with the largest police departments in the US. If you would like to skip our detailed analysis of university police, you can directly go to the 5 Universities with the Largest Police Departments in the US.

Campus Police - An Overview 

According to a 2018 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 25,000 full-time sworn officers were serving public buildings and facilities in the US. Almost half of these, 13,000, worked for one of the 510 campus police departments functioning in 4-year public universities and colleges nationwide. There were also 303 police departments serving police districts, which collectively employ 5,600 full-time sworn officers. Previously, in 2012, the Bureau had also reported that almost 75% of American college campuses had their own police department. This is the latest figure available from the department. However, data aside, the presence of law enforcement agencies on a university campus has been a topic of contention for long. While reservations have been sounded out for a long time, the ‘Cops Off Campus’ Coalition formalized itself in the summer of 2020 after reports of police brutality increased around the country, according to the Coalition’s official website.

According to the Coalition, campuses across North America have historically increased budgets for their police departments. This is supported by recent as well as old figures. On February 28, 2024, FOX 5 Atlanta reported that the University of Georgia had announced an investment of $7.3 million into improving campus safety, 20% of which had been allotted to the UGA Police Department. According to data by Longwood University, its campus security operational budget has increased 83% since 2012, with $1.3 million being awarded in additional funding. The number of full-time officers per student has seen a 24% increase since 2015. A Bureau of Justice Statistics report released in January 2015 mentioned that from 2005 to 2012, there had been a 16% increase in full-time campus law enforcement employment. In contrast, student enrollment had only grown by 11% during the same period. 

The BJS report further elaborates that 94% of all sworn officers carry guns, 94% carry chemical or pepper spray, and 93% carry batons. Thus, the money isn’t just spent on hiring more officers but also on equipping them with the tools considered necessary for crime prevention or investigation. However, the Coalition believes funds from this area can be invested in education, housing, and mental healthcare instead. Before the coalition existed formally, there were still those asking for the removal of armed campus police. In 2018, an officer from the University of Chicago Police Department shot an undergraduate student, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. This led to the students mobilizing to form a #CareNotCops Chapter on their campus, asking for police reform. The efforts have continued even after the Coalition. On February 8, 2023, The Stanford Daily reported that students had been rallying and protesting on campus, asking for the campus police to be abolished. The protest started after an officer of the university’s police department had pointed his gun at a black man during a traffic stop. You can also take a look at 20 Countries that Spend the Most on Education. 

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