‘How Safe Is Your Campus?’ Survey Results: Officer Salaries
For universities and hospitals, staffing and salary results are mixed, with two in five respondents saying their departments hired additional employees in 2010. K-12 campuses and districts, however, continue to struggle.
- Note: This is the second installment of exclusive research featured in the Campus Safety Yearbook. Results for university, K-12 and hospital campuses, as well as technology will be released on CampusSafetyMagazine.com throughout the month of November.
Because so many readers have expressed concerns about the economy, Campus Safety Magazine conducted a short survey on how the downturn is impacting school, hospital and university security, safety and emergency management.
View the “How the Economy Is Affecting Campus Public Safety” Survey Results
With the current national unemployment rate just under 10 percent, the staffing statuses for hospital and university public safety departments are mixed but appear to be a bit healthier than other U.S. industries. About two in five respondents from these sectors say their departments hired additional sworn or nonsworn officers or staff in 2010. Still, 12 percent of university survey takers say their sworn and nonsworn officers were required to take unpaid furloughs.
Nine percent of medical facility respondents say their public safety departments experienced layoffs. Eight percent say their sworn officers had to take unpaid days off, while 4 percent say their nonsworn officers were required to do so.
On the K-12 side of things, despite help from the federal stimulus package, the employment picture was bleak. More than one in five (22 percent) respondents say their campus public safety departments experienced layoffs in 2010, and only 13 percent hired additional sworn or nonsworn officers or staff. Seventeen percent of K-12 respondents say their nonsworn officers were required to take unpaid furloughs, while 11 percent say their sworn officers were forced to take unpaid days off.
Surprisingly, 42 percent of chief and director respondents actually received salary increases in 2010. About half (49 percent) of respondents who are lieutenants, captains or supervisors; 31 percent of emergency management staff; and 18 percent of officers say they experienced an increase in pay.
View the “How the Economy Is Affecting Campus Public Safety” Survey Results
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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