<p>I just read an article on the Brown website about arming campus police. Is this usual at US universities? To me, the presence of guns increases the chances of them being stolen or used inappropriately. Can someone enlighten me as to the prevalence of armed security personnel on US university campuses?
Thanks
<a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2005-06/05-061.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2005-06/05-061.html</a></p>
<p>Armed security forces are actually quite common on university campuses across the country, especially in urban areas. Yale's police force has been armed for around 10 years. Many other schools are considering adding them.
Below are just a few of the links that turned up on a google search for "Campus security officers + guns" There were actually too many links to list here.</p>
<p>While I suppose some could argue "To me, the presence of guns increases the chances of them being stolen or used inappropriately," Keep in mind that in order to carry guns the campus police officers must undergo the same training and certification as regular police officers. Therefore, I suppose if you are correct, that we should also disarm all police forces in the U.S. in order to insure public safety. </p>
<p>By the way, I found this related link to be very interesting. I think it should be required reading for all college students who often have a false sense of security about their surroundings:</p>
<p>Also see the main page of the above link, which has many informative news articles and links to resources on campus safety for schools across the nation:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.securityoncampus.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.securityoncampus.org/</a></p>
<p>Thanks Carolyn, - disarm all police forces? - dare to dream!</p>
<p>armed and sworn,e.g., with investigative and arrest powers. This is especially true at nearly all large state universities, which are in fact small cities with all the same problems.</p>
<p>Most colleges are required to make crime statistics available subsequent to the Clery Act, named for Jeanne Clery, a Lehigh student who was murdered. I've found, though, you can learn significantly more about security problems if you talk directly with campus security. Most are glad to learn that someone cares about what they do and will chat on at length about incidents not covered in the Clery reports.</p>
<p>Student Newspapers usually report campus crime and tell all about it.</p>
<p>Brown is arming its police and the Marines are leaving the Naval Academy. What's next?</p>