L.B., campus police to review protocol
Press-Telegram 4/18/07
"We're setting up a meeting now (with LBPD's East Division) in response to the Virginia Tech shooting," Cal State Long Beach Police Chief Jack Pearson said Tuesday.
The purpose of the meeting will be to review current plans in place and to see what, if anything, should be changed in light of lessons learned in the Virginia Tech rampage.
The CSULB Police Department is a force of 27-armed, sworn police officers that patrols the 324-acre campus and is trained to handle investigations ranging from burglaries to homicides, Pearson said.
They are held to the same standards as any other police force in the state; that includes the state Peace Officer Standards and Training requirement that 24 hours of refresher training be conducted every two years.
CSULB Police go a step further, Pearson said, requiring its officers to complete 40 hours of refresher training each year.
Like most mid-size and small police departments, they contract out for academy training, sending recruits to the Rio Hondo Police Academy's 18-week course.
And a number of the officers on the force were hired from other law enforcement agencies, the chief said.
Most crimes that occur on campus do not require the help of outside agencies. When they do, it is usually due to a need for more bodies or resources, he explained.
If an investigation requires the use of certain crime lab analysis - for example, DNA or ballistic tests - or bomb squad response, the CSULB force turns to larger agencies such as the LBPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Campus police immediately notify outside agencies if a suspect flees into the community or the crime appears to be one perpetuated off campus and into the community, as was the case with a series of sexual assaults last fall, Pearson said.
In that case, CSULB police contacted not just Long Beach police but the Signal Hill and Seal Beach police departments and the Los Angeles and Orange County sheriff's departments.
Mass casualty incidents - such as major traffic collisions that require street closures - as well as large scale events - such as protests or demonstrations - will also prompt college police to act on its mutual-aid agreement with the LBPD, he said.
"Calls where life safety is the focus ... get the highest priority," Pearson said. "It's pretty standard."
Because of the college's location and its open campus, Pearson and his administrators meet regularly with other agencies to review logistics and tactics for different incidents, he said.