Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 221 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p.182-193). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (M.A.)--Northern Kentucky University, 2006. / Made available through ProQuest. Publication number: AAT 1435897. ProQuest document ID: 1163267151. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-55)

The assessment of citizen attitudes has, in recent decades, become standard practice within the criminal justice system. However, in assessing the criminal justice system, most research has gathered data on the attitudes and perceptions of specific populations within society (i.e. older citizens) and has not really focused on younger age groups, or more specifically, students enrolled in colleges and universities. The present study examined attitudes of college students in the areas of confidence and utilization of campus police. Utilizing a non-random convenience sample of undergraduate and graduate students (N=393) at a large four-year research institution, participants completed a 21-item survey to measure their confidence and utilization of campus police, resources, and services. The results suggest that confidence does not affect utilization of police and students stated they would utilize police despite their confidence level. However, more significantly, students also indicated that while they would utilize police, they reported they had not. As a result, various recommendations were made to improve communications between students and campus police and directions for future research were also noted.

Numerous studies have been conducted to determine predictors of perceptions and attitudes toward police. Less effort has been spent on determining university and college students' perceptions of campus police departments. The purpose of this thesis was to fill this gap in the literature with an added emphasis on exploring potential differences in perceptions between students involved in Greek Life organizations and students not involved in Greek Life organizations. Prior literature found that Greek Life students engage in risk-taking behaviors at higher rates than their counterparts, so it was hypothesized that Greek Life students would have higher levels of distrust in the campus police due to their increased engagement in risk-taking behaviors. The survey questionnaire measuring trust and procedural justice/legitimacy perceptions of campus police was distributed through convenience sampling to university students. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and multivariate analyses were utilized to analyze the data. The results showed that students overall had positive perceptions of campus police, that Greek Life students had more negative perceptions of the campus police than non-Greek Life students, and that students with prior interactions with the campus police were more likely to perceive the police to be less procedurally just/legitimate. Race/ethnicity was not found to be a predictor in perceptions of trust or procedural justice/legitimacy of the campus police. Limitations, policy implications, and suggestions for future research concerning student perceptions of campus police were also discussed.