California Private Universities Public Safety Departments

[Rlong1985]

I am currently active duty military and will be getting out of the service with in a year, and I will need a job before and while I go through the Police Academy to support myself. I have been looking at non-sworn security and police positions in hopes of finding something. I came across a position with USF, USD and California Baptist University with there Public Safety Departments. I know some of the basics in the penal code and the power's of arrest granted to the average citizen and police officers. Well heres where I get confused, CPC 830.7, gives Security Officers working for private Unversities something inbetween the two and is still a non-sworn position. I was hoping you guys could explain, both what a Public Safety Officer does for private universities, what powers of arrest he has, police powers if any and if you would recommend this route.

[Kimble]

Your signature space says you retired in 2005. How old are you?

[Legoate]

Many private universities in CA have officers which are considered part-time peace officers. They have full police powers of arrest while on duty, but off duty they have no powers... meaning they can't carry a gun off duty without a CCW permit. I can't speak to the training for these folks because I don't really know... however I can speak from experience and say most are not as well trained as the officers in my department.... but they are good guys with their heart in the right place. I've known some officers to retire and go to work at private institutions like that.

[Rlong1985]

Sorry about the confusion about my sig, I was a Explorer Sergeant for a department in Northern California before joining the military. I left on good terms and aged out of the program for the department. I will change it....

Are you enforcing all California Laws on campus then? Do you have a patrol car with the ability to stop people. Just seems wierd that this job would give you police powers with out the Police Academy or just a PC 832 class.

[MP_Steve]

sargent

Just curious, but is that how you spelled it while you were an explorer? :rolleyes:

[histfan71]

I used to work as a police sergeant for a private college in Southern California from 2000 until 2003 when the college disbanded its PD and reverted back to private security guards. We had a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the local city PD that granted us full peace officer status while on duty ONLY. So like Legoate said, no CCW privileges except for traveling directly to and from work.

Training was a serious problem. While our MOU with the city PD specified that anybody we hired as a police officer had to have completed a full Basic academy, it left continuing professional training (CPT) up to us. The college would not pay for any CPT since the college took to the position that since our MOU did not require any additional training except for the Basic academy, the college was not going to foot the bill for any CPT. Only myself and one of my officers took the POST-mandated CPT at our own expense. The lack of any additional training was cited as one of the reasons the college decided to return to private security.

As far as duties go, we did have a fully marked and equipped police car. We did enforce all state laws on campus, as well as the college's rules and regulations. While on-duty our peace officer powers were valid in the entire state, our chief did not want us to take any enforcement action off campus, unless it was a serious felony crime or a life-threatening emergency. A couple of my officers got disciplined for going off campus and writing traffic tickets.

I am familiar with both the University of San Diego and California Baptist University. USD once had an MOU with San Diego PD that granted them on-duty peace officer powers, but it was taken away about five years ago. I do not know why. USD officers are armed and their cars have red and blue light bars, but they are non-sworn civilian security officers. Any arrest they make, and they make quite a few, are just citizen arrests and they have to turn their arrestees over to SDPD. California Baptist University are also non-sworn security guards and they are not armed. I've been told that they are only allowed to carry pepper spray, no batons or even handcuffs. They have never had an MOU with Riverside PD to my knowledge. The last I heard (circa 2005) CBU officers were not allowed to make arrests or take any sort of enforcement actions. If they witnessed a crime they had to call Riverside PD.

The only two private universities in the state who have full (on duty and off duty) peace officer status are Stanford University near Palo Alto and University of the Pacific near Stockton. The University of Southern California also once had an MOU with LAPD that granted them peace officer status, but they lost it about 10 years ago. They both have pretty good websites that fully explain their respective MOU's and from where they get their authority. A Google search will pull up both websites. Stanford Public Safety is one of, if not the, highest paid PD in the county and they have a great reputation. If I were able to move, Stanford PSD would be the first place I would apply. If you have any more questions, I will try to help in any way possible.

[Rlong1985]

Histfan, thanks for the help your answer was the one I was looking for. I may apply with USD Public Safety as a job right out of the military, it is better than a mall security and with it seems to come with a bit more responsibility. UCSD, or anther UC Police Department is what I am going for in the future. A few small police departments will also be on the list when I go to apply as a Police Officer. Thanks for the help,

[histfan71]

Histfan, thanks for the help your answer was the one I was looking for. I may apply with USD Public Safety as a job right out of the military, it is better than a mall security and with it seems to come with a bit more responsibility. UCSD, or anther UC Police Department is what I am going for in the future. A few small police departments will also be on the list when I go to apply as a Police Officer. Thanks for the help,

You're welcome. Don't forget to look at the community colleges in the San Diego area as well. Here is link to San Diego CCD Police hiring website:

http://police.sdccd.edu/employment.htm