Security Magazine ranked Cal State Long Beach as having the fifth most-extensive security system of the nation’s colleges and universities in its annual “Security 500” rankings.
Bill Zalud, a Security Magazine editor, said the rankings are based on levels of spending on safety and staffing rather than crime levels.
“It’s more a business measure than it is a crime measure,” Zalud said.
He said the criteria for the rankings were levels of security spending per employee, levels of spending on security compared to revenue, the number of security officers per square foot and the number of security officers per student or employee.
Zalud said a better-run business would be more effective at its mission, but said that this isn’t always the case. He said that the rankings allow the organizations’ security leaders to compare their operations to others and see where they stand in terms of the number of officers and budget.
The criteria for the ranking was: security spending per employee, security spending in comparison to the organizations’ budget, security officers per square foot of facilities and security officers per employee.
Published in November, the rankings span 17 industries — like health care, education and retail — and list 500 organizations overall.
Despite CSULB’s rise in the rankings – it came in at 18th among colleges and universities last year – University Police Chief Stan Skipworth said that the department’s budget didn’t rise this year.
He said the jump reflects long-term decisions the college has made, like to implement the university camera system and the Emergency Notification System.
Skipworth said the department added three patrol officers within the past year in response to CSULB’s acquisition of the former Brooks College campus. The former campus will be converted to house from 500 to 700 CSULB students, according to CSULB’s Housing and Residential Life.
“I think [the jump to fifth place] is significant,” Zalud said.
In regards to how the nation’s economic downturn may affect crime, Skipworth said crime has traditionally risen with economic turmoil.
But Zalud said that, while crime rose during the recessions of the 1970s and ’80s, crime rates were already rising prior to the downturns, which isn’t the case in the current recession.
“We’re fairly safe today as compared to years gone by,” Zalud said.
Skipworth said the department has seen a slight rise in crime the past couple of weeks, but added that crime comes in waves.