Hiding In Plain Sight: Ghosted Police Vehicles And The Perception Of Police Presence On College Campuses

<p>Previous research has shown that police presence, which involves visibility of law enforcement personnel, is often related to perceptions of individual safety and individual behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of college students and campus law enforcement regarding visibility of and citizen/police interaction on Eastern Kentucky University’s campus. The first phase of this project was designed to measure student awareness and visibility of “ghosted” police vehicles, which are black with matte black markings on the doors and have few easily visible indicators of law enforcement vehicles, versus other police types of police vehicles on campus. The second phase of the study involved measuring the police perception of safety on campus while using the ghosted vehicles. Survey and interview data were analyzed to explore whether the use of ghosted law enforcement vehicles impact perceptions of safety and crime detection. Potential policy implications concerning the use of ghosted vehicles are discussed. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Justice Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Eastern Kentucky University

Year

2020

Author dc:creator

• Kibler, MacKenzie

• Ghost car
• Ghosted police vehicle
• Officer
• Safety
• Student
• Criminology
• Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 MacKenzie Kibler

Repository record dc:identifier

https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/736

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:encompass.eku.edu:etd-1734