What Campus Police Departments Need from Their Background Investigations
Every fall, thousands of students move onto campuses across the country. Their parents rarely ask who will be patrolling the residence halls at 2 a.m. They assume the answer is someone who was carefully vetted. Campus police chiefs know that assumption rests on one process: the background investigation.
At ProFirst Training and Consulting, we work alongside university police departments from Colorado to Maryland. Their hiring challenges are real, and they're different from what most city and county agencies face.
Campus departments hire under different conditions
University police officers carry the same badge, arrest powers and state certification requirements as officers at any municipal or county agency. The conditions they hire under are another story:
Small teams, big responsibilities. Many campus departments don't have a full-time background unit. The investigator may also be a patrol sergeant, a trainer or an administrator.
The academic calendar sets the clock. Departments often need officers in place before fall semester or a major event season, which puts pressure on investigators to move candidates through quickly.
A uniquely trusting population. Officers work every day with young adults, many living away from home for the first time, along with faculty, staff and visitors.
Two sets of rules. Campus departments must meet state law enforcement standards and university HR policies, and the two don't always line up neatly.
None of these are reasons to cut corners. They're reasons a defensible, state-compliant process matters even more.
What a strong campus background investigation looks like
A records check is not a background investigation. Our investigations average 20 to 25 hours per applicant, because the information that matters most rarely shows up in a database. A strong investigation:
Meets the state standard, on paper. Every element your state requires is completed and documented, so the file holds up in an audit.
Goes beyond the records. It includes interviews with references, former employers and neighbors, verification of education and work history, and a review of the candidate's online presence.
Is consistent from candidate to candidate. The same steps, the same standards and the same documentation every time.
Is written for the person who will question it later. That may be a hiring board, an auditor or a civil attorney in a negligent hiring case.Consulting Services
When those four things are in place, chiefs get hiring decisions they can stand behind.
How ProFirst supports university police
Training your investigators. We have trained campus law enforcement investigators at the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University and Drexel University. In November, we'll deliver in-house training to the University of Pennsylvania Police Department on conducting state-compliant background investigations. Colleges also bring us in to lead regional training: in February, we partnered with Owens Community College in Perrysburg, Ohio, to host a regional law enforcement training consortium on modern police hiring practices, background investigation standards and legal compliance, drawing investigators and command staff from across Ohio and surrounding states.
Conducting investigations for you. When a department needs more capacity, our investigators handle the investigation from start to finish. We recently partnered with Bowie State University to do exactly that for the Bowie State University Police Department.
Consulting on hiring standards. We help command staff review selection processes, update policies and align university practices with state requirements.
A conversation worth continuing
On October 3, I spoke at the Tennessee Board of Regents' annual Police Chiefs Retreat, alongside the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security and the Tennessee POST Commission.
One theme stood out: command staff and human resources need to work as one team on recruitment, selection standards, employee discipline and staffing levels. Too often, each side knows only half the picture. HR representatives may not be familiar with the state laws that govern police personnel, while command staff may not know the HR protocols their university requires. When the two sit down together early, hiring gets faster, cleaner and far more defensible.
Events like that one show how seriously campus leaders take the safety of their students. When police departments and their partners share information in the same room, everyone leaves better prepared.
Let's talk
If your department is facing a hiring surge, training new investigators or simply wants a second set of eyes on its process, we'd be glad to help. Contact ProFirst to start the conversation.
