Today, we pause to remember those who perished in the attack on our nation on 9/11.
And in remembering and refusing to forget, we honor the valor of the 403 police officers and fire fighters who gave their last full measure to save the lives of strangers.
They made the ultimate sacrifice without regard to the race or ethnicity or nationality of those they were protecting.
“In valor there is hope.”
September is National Preparedness Month all across the United States. In advance of this very important time to reassess our personal, family, organizational and community levels of readiness for a disaster, CCUPCA is pleased to share a very important article from the California Office of Emergency Services.
We encourage everyone to avoid the assumptions illustrated in the article, and instead be demonstrably diligent in how you remain prepared and help others become informed so that they, too, can be ready for emergency conditions.
CCUPCA looks forward to working closely with all of its partners to make National Preparedness Month a highly successful event.
To read the article, please click here.
The US Department of Education, Family Policy Compliance Office has issued a draft Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) (PDF) reminding institutions of their “their obligations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g and the regulations in 34 C.F.R. Part 99, to protect students’ education records from disclosure without consent, and to provide guidance more specifically on the disclosure of student medical records.”
For more information on this announcement, visit http://www.ed.gov/.
The California College & University Police Chiefs Association is proud to announce its newest member, California State Universty Long Beach Police Department and Chief Fernando Solorzano.
CSU Long Beach, also known as “The Beach”, is one of the largest campuses in the Cal State system, with nearly 41,000 students, faculty and staff. The Police Department has distinguished itself in several capacities, and has often ranked in the Top 10 of America’s Most Secure Campuses by Security Magazine.
Welcome CSULB Police!
Biola University’s Chief of Campus Safety, John Ojeisekhoba, was presented Campus Safety Magazine’s “Director of the Year Award” earlier today at Biola University in La Mirada, California.
Earlier, Chief Ojeisekhoba praised his team, stating, “The true champions are the men and women who work at [Biola’s] campus safety. I am thankful for the many departments on and off campus that help support us as we strive to achieve our goals.”
In attendance to celebrate along with the Chief’s colleagues were his family, as well as CCUPCA President Randy Burba of Chapman University, and President-Elect Will Glen of Irvine Valley College.
For Campus Safety Magazine’s coverage of Chief Ojeisekhoba, please click here.
On August 10, 2015 at 1:36 PM, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 424 (SB 424) into law. Drafted by Senator (Dr.) Richard Pan in partnership with the California College & University Police Chiefs Association, SB 424 gives all of California’s sworn campus law enforcement agencies the ability to utilize body worn cameras and make pretext calls in sexual assault investigations, through granting an exemption to the two party consent requirement outlined in 633.02 of the California Penal Code.
This exemption, which had long-been afforded to Peace Officers as defined in California Penal Code Section 830.1, for many years excluded many of our specialized university law enforcement peace officers. Today, SB 424 has successfully addressed that inconsistency.
The California College & University Police Chiefs Association deeply thanks Senator Pan, who sought to thoroughly understand the challenges of the prior statute, and, for his vision in helping bring these tools to our college and university campuses across the State.
The California College and University Police Chiefs Association, the sponsors of Senate Bill 424, are responsible for providing front-line public safety for over three million students, faculty, staff, and visitors of the campuses in California.
The recent loss of a man’s life and the indictment of a university police officer in Cincinnati have rekindled debates over policing schools and colleges.
The member agencies of the California College and University Police Chiefs Association stand alongside every member of every community that has been affected by this tragic event.
University Police Departments operate with a high degree of transparency and accountability to the communities they serve. These same agencies also dedicate themselves to an additional standard of openness and proactive reporting through current federal crime reporting statutes that their municipal partners do not. It is also highly important to note that police officers employed by college and university police departments in California undergo the exact training that municipal peace officers undergo to be eligible for service, and complete an additional set of training programs specifically designed for campus law enforcement professionals.
The statistics of campus law enforcement incidents demonstrate that the training and preparation of police officers serving on college and university campuses actually shows incidents of lethal force to be far fewer. In the 2011 U.S. Department of Justice survey of al law enforcement agencies in the United States, two-thirds of the more than 900 U.S. four-year colleges and universities with 2,500 or more students used sworn police officers to provide law enforcement services. The percentage for public institutions is even higher at 90%.
Campus law enforcement professionals are a dedicated, diverse and highly-skilled and trained segment of public safety who actively engage themselves to know their campus and local communities very well. Campus police officers perform the same duties in protecting and serving their communities as their colleagues in local law enforcement agencies, and with the added expectations that American families share when their sons and daughters go to college to earn their degrees in pursuit of their future goals.
It is important to remember that the loss of any life, in any community, for any reason, is both tragic and troubling. Yet it is also a time for leaders to preserve the process that allows us to determine responsibility and then, just as importantly, the opportunities to eliminate such tragedies in the future.
CCUPCA is dedicated to working with each of its member institutions, campus community partners and our larger surrounding communities for real, lasting solutions that will ensure greater safety, security and proactive remedies to the challenges we all share.
On behalf of all the members of the California College and University Police Chiefs Association, welcome to the new website of CCUPCA! Our professional, non-profit organization has many new features and resources to assist you–the Police Chief, Director or Command Level Officer–information, resources and a tremendous network of leaders in higher education throughout the State of California.
We invite you to also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and sign up for our News Briefs feature that will bring you current significant events and updates concerning public safety and policing among our private and public college and university campuses.
If you’re not a member, we hope you’ll visit us often, and we also hope you’ll join CCUPCA’s nearly 100 police and safety departments now serving more than 3 million students, faculty and staff members throughout the state.
For more information, visit our ‘Contact Us’ page and share with us your interests or issues.
CCUPCA Legislative Liaison Stan Skipworth presented an opening-day update on key California legislative activity to attendees of Campus Safety Magazine‘s annual West Coast Conference held at the Los Angeles World Airport Westin Hotel on July 23rd and 24th.
The session, A Legislative Update Regarding California Bills for Advancing Campus Safety, was presented during the opening plenary sessions of the conference, and highlighted key bills currently being heard in the California State Assembly and State Senate, including SB 424 (Pan), SB 707 (Wolk), SB 482 (Lara), AB 969 (Williams), SB 186 (Jackson), and AB 173 (Holden).
Skipworth, the Director of Campus Safety for The Claremont University Consortium, provided insight into the recent series of successful bills authored or supported in a lead role by the California College & University Police Chiefs Association, and many CCUPCA partners in the public safety industry.
The conference included several other notable guest speakers, including keynote addresses by University of California at Santa Barbara Chief of Police Dustin Olsen and Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, whose address emphasized the necessity for collaborative campus safety strategies between communities and colleges, which concluded this year’s West Coast Conference.
For more information on these bills, and other legislative activity, we invite you to contact Stan Skipworth at stans@cuc.claremont.edu.
This week the National Center for Campus Public Safety reported that the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, developed Campus Security Guidelines: Recommended Operational Policies for Local and Campus Law Enforcement Agencies.
The MCCA views this document as “a proactive approach in addressing violence on campus and improving coordination with campus public safety departments.” The guidelines represent a collaborative effort between local and campus law enforcement and provide suggested practices to improve effectiveness and create a safer community on and off campus.
