Bakersfield College Safety have started a discussion about forming a college Police Department that would be located on campus. This department would provide more security measures, to apprehend, and prevent criminal activity that is coming from off campus, mentions the BC Executive Director for College safety Joseph Grubbs. The discussion has begun and is ready to go beyond.
Joseph Grubbs, with a background in law enforcement, and now retired, believes that starting this discussion will bring more safety to students here on campus, including dealing with more high-level criminal activities.
Bakersfield College has been a target for criminal activity. Last semester six cars were stolen on campus along with reports of cars broken into. Grubbs explains that this is the kind of criminal activity that a police presence would prevent with heavy patrol.
Over 20 crimes have been reported in January this year, Grubbs explains, with the addition of having police officers “it would offer us with more tools that an actual police officer can use to help apprehend more criminals.”
As of now, the College Safety security officers, different from a sworn police officer, has very limited resources and regulations that can hold back an arrest or an apprehension.
Grubbs mentioned a recent trespassing that security had to deal with on a nightly patrol, where a person who looked like used tools to go through the gate by the south parking. During the apprehension, security was only allowed to apprehend the person for a small amount of had to be let go. time, and
It was clear that if police were on campus around that time, they would’ve been able to detain, arrest and seize property of the criminal, which arrived at the scene almost four hours after the person left.
“With a police presence on campus we would be able to detain, search and seize, and also seize property” that would keep both faculty and students safe, from criminal activity coming from off-campus visitors.
Lastly, Grubs said, “One thing I want to make sure is, we know the students love coming here, they take their own time to come and learn, so we want them to know we’re looking to provide for them.”