Enforcement of alcohol policies on four-year college campuses

Heavy alcohol use among college students is related to a wide range of problems. Many policies have been identified for college campuses to implement to address student alcohol use. To be effective, these campus policies need to be actively enforced so that potential violators perceive a high certainty that they will be caught and that they will face penalties if they violate a policy. Currently, little is known about levels of enforcement of alcohol policies on college campuses. Similarly, little is known about campus enforcement systems in terms of what percentage of four-year campuses have law enforcement versus security staff located on campus and what type of training is offered to law enforcement and security staff related to preventing and handling alcohol incidences on campus. Little is also known about how many campuses work with local law enforcement to enforce alcohol laws on and off campus. We conducted an online survey of heads of campus law enforcement or security departments on 345 randomly selected four-year campuses throughout the United States to assess: (1) enforcement systems on campuses and (2) level of enforcement of a wide range of alcohol-related campus policies. We will present the results from this survey, including a description of enforcement activity and systems and whether enforcement systems and practices vary by size (large vs. small) and type (public vs. private) of college. We will also discuss recommendations resulting from these study findings.