Submitted to Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences conference proceedings (March 2012)
Security Administration in the classroom: More challenging when it’s not as sexy as policing.
Carter F. Smith
Assistant Professor, Austin Peay State University
Department of Public Management and Criminal Justice
615-656-3505
Abstract: Gabbidon examined perceptions of criminal justice students in a security administration class, asking reasons for taking the course, knowledge regarding the security field, their career objective, and whether they considered working in the security field. He later asked whether their interest in working in the security field had decreased, increased, or remained the same, whether their respect for the field decreased, increased, or remained the same, and how they would rate the course in comparison to other criminal justice courses they had taken. This research was replicated to determine differences in perceptions of security administration by current criminal justice students.
Keywords: private security, security administration, homeland security education, criminal justice courses, teaching security
Introduction
This research was inspired by Gabbidon (2002) responding to Swart (2000) who believed he knew why college-level security courses don't fly. Gabbidon (2002) noted that when criminal justice emerged as a discipline in the 1960s, security was left out because it was viewed more under the purview of the business world. Consequently, he said, the lack of interest was a direct result of this historical oversight. Swart suggested that students have negative perceptions of the security field and, thus, lack interest in the profession. Swart also suggested that business programs in higher education don't see security courses as a fit and therefore ignore them (2000, p. 38). Further, Swart believed that student perceptions of the field serve as a barrier to enrolling in security courses. To rectify these problems, Swart proposed that criminal justice should be restructured as justice studies to be more inclusive of security courses (2000, p. 39).
Gabbidon conducted two exploratory surveys that were administered to students enrolled in Seminar in Security Administration courses. The initial survey explored what students knew about security prior to the course and delved into their career aspirations (Gabbidon, 2002). In addition, a brief post-course survey was administered to see if their views about the profession differed following their completion of the course. This research was based on the administration of one end-of-course survey combining Gabbidon’s questions. The respondents were students in three offerings of an upper division course in the criminal justice discipline entitled Security Administration at a large, public university in the southeast United States.
Teaching Security Administration
Gabbidon taught security administration three times, twice at his former university and once at his current university. The course was well received by students, many of whom left the course enthusiastic about the prospects of entering the profession. This researcher’s experience was similar, having taught the Security Administration course as an integral part of the Homeland Security minor to a Criminal Justice major. The researcher taught the course three times, and students in all of those classes were surveyed using the instrument herein described, yielding the data thus recorded.
Gabbidon suspected the positive responses he received were a result of the students' exposure to the many facets and challenges of the security profession. He noted that removing the image of the low-paid security guard was “central to influencing student enthusiasm for both the course and the profession” (2002, p. 18). Gabbidon agreed with Professor Swart that there were challenges faced by instructors who taught this course. This researcher agrees, as well.
Challenges Teaching Security Courses
In Gabbidon’s experience, there were three problems that remained problematic for instructors who teach security administration courses. First, security courses were typically not valued by colleagues, as many hold the view that these courses take criminal justice back to the "cop shop" era (Gabbidon, 2002). Second, since introductory criminal justice texts usually provide cursory references to private security, students are led to believe it is less important than other areas of criminal justice (Gabbidon, 2002). Gabbidon saw the core problem centering more around respect rather than a lack of interest on the part of students. Once respect was achieved, he suspected interest would follow. To determine if those views were valid, he conducted a study of students enrolled in one of his security courses. The experience of the researcher was similar, with similar preliminary conclusions and implied hypotheses.
Research Methods
Gabbidon distributed a survey to the n=46 students enrolled in the course prior to handing out the syllabus. The course was a 300-level course that can be used to fulfill the electives criminal justice students are required to take. Gabbidon asked four substantive questions: "Why did they take the course?"; "Explain their current knowledge regarding the security field?"; "What was their career objective?"; and "Have they ever considered working in the security field?" In addition, to determine the impact of the course on their perceptions of the field, in the last week of the semester, he distributed a post-course completion survey. Gabbidon’s survey had three substantive questions: "As a result of taking this course, has your interest in working in the security field decreased, increased, or remained the same?"; "As a result of taking this course, has your respect for the security field decreased, increased, or remained the same?"; and "How would you rate this course in comparison to other criminal justice courses you have taken?"
The researcher surveyed n=69 students in 3 4000-level offerings of an upper division course in the criminal justice discipline entitled Security Administration, in Spring and Fall of 2009 and Fall of 2010. Instead of a pre-post questionnaire, the researcher administered only an end-of-course survey. The questions included: “Why did you take this course?”; “Describe your knowledge at the beginning of this course regarding the security field.”; “What is your career objective?”; and “Have you ever considered working in the security field?” Additionally, to allow for clarification, the respondents were asked, “If you have not considered working in the security field, please identify the primary reason why. Please list the reasons, starting with the primary reason.” This survey had three substantive Likert questions, similar to Gabbidon’s, “My knowledge of private security has increased because of this course.”; “My respect for the security field has increased because of this course.”; and “This course was more interesting than other criminal justice courses I have taken.” Additionally, to allow for clarification, the respondents were asked, “Prior to attending college, what fields did you have work experience in?” and “Prior to attending college, what fields did you have interest in?”
Results
The students in Gabbidon’s class were primarily criminal justice majors (89%), with a little more than half of them male (56%). The majority of students taking the more recent survey were also criminal justice majors (78.2%). From Gabbidon’s survey, most students (56%) stated that they took the course because it was one of the electives that could be used for their major. Another group of students either took the course to learn more about security (15%) or just thought the course would be interesting (11%). The students taking the more recent survey reported 44% required by major/minor, 41% an elective for major or minor, and 3% to learn about security, while 11% thought the course would be interesting.
Very few of Gabbidon’s students suggested that they were familiar with security, with the majority indicating they were only somewhat familiar with the field (46%), and the remainder stating they were not too familiar (42%). A minority (7%) of the students taking the more recent survey reported they were very familiar with the security field, while most (49%) reported they were somewhat familiar. About one in three students (34%) reported they were not very familiar, while 10% reported they were not at all familiar.
Though none of Gabbidon’s students indicated that their career objective was to work in the security profession, when asked if they ever considered working in the security field, more than half (59%) stated they had. Of the students taking the more recent survey, a small but noteworthy number (4%) reported their career objective was private security. And three in four (76%) considered working in the security field.
Nearly two-thirds of Gabbidon’s students (64%) indicated that their interest in security increased following their enrollment in Gabbidon’s course. Many of the remaining students (32%) stated that their interest had not changed. The students taking the more recent survey were asked whether their knowledge of the field had increased, with the majority (98%) either agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement. One student (<1%) reported their knowledge remained the same. The researcher has no satisfactory explanation for the change in wording of the question.
A striking figure for both surveys was the appreciable increase in respect for the security profession. More than 90% of Gabbidon’s students reported an increase in their respect for the security field. A similarly high percentage of students (93%) taking the more recent survey reported an increase. None disagreed with the statement, and a minority (7%) reported their respect level remained the same.
About 60% of Gabbidon’s students rated the course as more interesting than other criminal justice courses they had previously taken. Four of five (80%) students taking the more recent survey rated the course as more interesting than other criminal justice courses. The remainder (20%) reported it was about the same.
The added questions yielded interesting results. For the question, “If you have not considered working in the security field, please identify the primary reason why. Please list the reasons, starting with the primary reason” the students reported:
· When I heard the word security, I always thought of a mall cop
· I would like to work as a Lawyer instead. :)
· I already have a job in Law Enforcement lined up when I graduate.
· My goal has been to reach a federal law enforcement field. A private security field would be a new interest I am interested in.
· People sometimes Security officers as a joke, and they aren't as powerful as police officers. I want to have more control, action, and responsibility.
· I haven't considered working directly in the security field, but I wouldn't be opposed to it in some business aspect such as management or marketing.
· While I don't see anything wrong with working in it, my career goal was always on the more pro-active side of law enforcement.
· I always thought that security guards had to be buff guys who are able to be complete ass holes to people
· Dont know if I am physically fit enough to respond necessarily to an situation.
· I didn't know too much about private and homeland security until I took criminal justice courses related to (it) and educated me in the two sub fields of criminal justice. Beforehand, all I knew and was trying to get into was law enforcement only.
· Thought the field was limited to mall cop type jobs and not the interesting opportunities pubic law has to offer.
· Not interested as much as other areas in the criminal justice field
For the question, “Prior to attending college, what fields did you have work experience in?” the responses included Computer Science, Sales, Construction, Lawn Care, Retail, Military, Small Business, Landscaping, Construction, Electrical, Plumbing, Pressure Washing Large Semi Trucks, Asset Protection, Sales, Auto Detailing, Hotel Industry, hospitality, Professional Musician/Theatre Work, Recreation Maintenance at a Golf Resort, Dentistry, Corrections, Private Security, Lifeguard, Grocery, Private Security, and Government Security, Dominos Pizza, Marine Corps, Security, Movie Theater, and Airport Dispatcher.
In response to the question, “Prior to attending college, what fields did you have interest in?” respondents answered Criminal Justice, Psychology, Industrial Organizational Psychology, Private Investigations, Nursing, Medical Doctor, Forestry, Music and Recording Industry, Investigations, Policing, Law School, Sports Management, Homeland Security, Middle East Affairs, US Diplomacy Relations, U.S. Army Intelligence, Sports Medicine, Aerospace, Radio Broadcast, and Forensic Science.
Considering the small number of students who participated in the surveys, this is obviously a continuation of the preliminary look by Gabbidon at how students view the security profession. As is the case in non-experimental studies, it cannot be stated that the students' views were solely influenced by taking the course. They may have already brought positive views of security professionals to the course. Taking the course might have heightened their respect for the complexities of the profession. Overall, we can be reasonably confident that those students who took the course didn't leave with any additional negative images of the security profession.
Discussion and Conclusion
The findings show how these students initially felt about the security profession and how taking the course transformed their perspective. Gabbidon (2002) suggested that the key to getting students interested in the security profession was getting them into the classroom. To accomplish this, a change in thought process may be required. Criminal justice faculty and administrators must be educated to the vastness of the profession, as well as the opportunities for students (Gabbidon, 2002). With billions annually being spent on private security, criminal justice programs should be spotlighting these courses (Gabbidon, 2002). The current state of the economy and relatively high unemployment rate, including those seeking public sector jobs like those in the criminal justice profession may increase the motivation of criminal justice students to consider private security as an alternative profession.
Moreover, the data reveal that exposing students to security courses has a potential additional benefit. Since students indicated that their respect for the security profession increased dramatically after taking the course, this could stave off future tensions between public criminal justice professionals and those in the private sector (Gabbidon, 2002). That would be a welcome change to the security profession considering they are often looked down upon by public law enforcement agencies and other criminal justice professionals (Gabbidon, 2002). Security courses require equal stature within criminal justice programs, and will become popular electives for students (Gabbidon, 2002). Marketing the course to business and information technology students who have an interest in the computer security field should also be done (Gabbidon, 2002).