They have their own police service with over ~3500 employees, and ~1000 armed agents. It doesn't get more governmental than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Inspection...

I agree that for all intents and purposes they are a government entity, but some private railroads (BNSF and UP) also have offical, bona fide police forces as well.So I'd say that by itself, having a legitimate police force isn't the sole criterion for being a public entity.

To further the point, most Universities have real police departments that can ticket and arrest you. Not all Universities are government run/funded.

This is getting off-topic, but as a Northern European I'm constantly dumbfounded by the proliferation of police--and even worse, paramilitary--organizations in the US, both public and private. Around here, even privatized parking enforcement (on private parking zones) is a hotly contested issue and private parties issuing parking "tickets" is currently illegal.

Well, for most situations here, it's because City/State police are underfunded and understaffed and cannot meet the needs of a small city like a University in a timely manor. The law enforcement officers for a University typically train the same as city police and abide by the same/similar governing regulations.

For a campus that may have 30,000-50,000 people on it at any given time, you do need to be able to have quick responses when an incident does occur. The campus police at my local university actually do more than a typical police department might -- sending out txt messages to all students when there is an incident or threat, update details frequently, Help Call Boxes in the parking lot for at night, etc. They even handle situations when a student pulls the alarm during finals week (something that an outside police department would not be able to rapidly respond to and would get annoyed with quickly).

Some universities even have their own fire departments. Most have medical staff on duty for students as well. Some even have dentists and optometrists, etc. They really are "small cities".

To be honest the idea of having a police department / legal force on campus is crazy, but I understand why it is happening.

Just wondering though you do sign an agreement with the campus that they are allowed to, right?

Depends on the size of the campus. I went to a school that was about 4 square miles and had upwards of 50,000 people there every day. Lower Manhattan is about the same size, though it does have many, many more residents. 50k is a good sized town. It's a little weird, but not unreasonable.

At least at University of Wisconsin campuses there's a good legal reason for a campus to have its own police: city and county police by default don't have jurisdiction within state agencies like the University.

So, thus they have their ow departments, like police.

Meh, they learned it from us Northern Europeans... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University_Police

anyone can make an arrest, but campus police et al can't shoot you legally as the government police can, they can't call in other branches of government like swat or air support or even the military, they can't take you to jail, after an arrest they need to call the real police. There's a big difference between campus police which are benign and the regular government police. sometimes (as at UC Davis) the campus police get ahead of themselves and start acting like the real police, but thankfully they can be reigned in, unlike the real cops who can do whatever they want and get away with it.

You hinted at the UCD pepper spray incident (which was under orders of the school chancellor, but nobody remembers that and she still has her job).

The campus police can and will shoot you. They are a real-deal police department. Most of the university shootings are ended by campus police (usually shooting the gunman).

However you sort of hinted at the fact that most campus police are a lot more lenient than city/state police. This is true in my experience -- guessing, but probably because they know who they are largely working with. Students. Drunk students, students doing dumb things, etc. Not hardened criminals most of the time. I'd probably step to far, but I'd wager campus police is a much safer line of work for an officer as well (no flip of the coin if the guy you pulled over for speeding will pull a gun on you, etc).

UC Davis is a state school. State schools tend to have real police, I don't know of any private university that does (why or how would they?)

Many do. Penn definitely does, for one (http://www.publicsafety.upenn.edu/UPPD/).

Generally, you will find that the difference in 'demeanor' for campus police is due to the flow of money. For city, county, and state police... fines and fees generally flow back to their respective coffers. Campus police (technically state agencies) on the other hand (generally) have budgets appropriated by the state regardless of revenue generation. This is why you will often hear stories of a drunken college student being escorted home instead of arrested; there is no financial interest in having them arrested.

Edits: grammar

This is not true. I know the University Police at my college are full fledged state police officers and have all the same rights, protections, and duties as a city patrol officer.

To give one random example, University of Washington police are King County Sheriff deputies with a different shoulder patch. They have the same abilities as our local transit police and the handful of towns that contract to KCSO for their local policing.

The UCPD are technically State Police and are definitely real cops that can arrest and/or shoot you.

Can they raise the price of stamps without congressional approval? Can they cancel Saturday delivery without congressional approval?

I'm not sure of the legal footing, but I put them closer to public than Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The government has to approve their overages, and they have no private capital. (Or do they?)

Government Sponsored Enterprise is the term you are looking for.

Yes - GSEs. But the GSEs have private capital. I don't think the post office does.

https://www.google.com/finance?q=OTCBB%3AFNMA https://www.google.com/finance?q=OTCBB%3AFMCC

That's the fun thing: contrary to public opinion, they aren't legally a government entity. But contrary to their marketing materials, they aren't truly independent either.

They get a huge amount of money from the government (the post office claims this isn't a subsidy since they provide services for the money), and they need Congress to approve efforts to raise prices, lower costs, change service, etc.

Years ago I tried to keep track of the various distinctions between different non-government organizations (e.g., the Federal Reserve is one form of a government corporation, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are a different form) until I realized that the distinctions almost never mattered. How important is it that the Federal Reserve issues stock, given that the stock can't be sold and provides no voting rights? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac weren't backed by the full faith and credit of the government, but got bailouts anyway (largely because they followed Congress' bidding as far as policy was concerned). The post office has been losing billions for years, and it doesn't take much to realize most people expect it to get a government bailout that would never be offered to UPS or FedEx.

The USPS is actually profitable, but is forced to pre-fund retiree healthcare (currently at a 50-year surplus).

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/opinion/2014/07/07/ro...

Then either that requirement will change, or they'll get handed the money to cover those costs. That may be a good policy, but it's clear that UPS and FedEx (and DHL, and any other shipper you've ever come across) would never get that kind of offer.

I'd say they are de facto a government entity, or at least pretty darn close (legal niceties aside).

What we in Canada would call a "Crown Corporation"... Like Canada Post.

Apparently the correct term is "Independent Agency" in the US which seems to imply a tighter integration.

no ahem same gov sponsorship as United Way..what we call quasi gov agency