Launching the Future! 2005 was a year of new beginnings for the UC System with the opening of the tenth campus in Merced, the first American research university built in the 21 st century. The UC Merced Police Department was formally founded in September 2005. The founding Chief of Police Rita Spaur, hired March 2005, was joined by her Management staff, July 2005 - Commander Michael Parish – Field Operations Division, July 2005 - Ann Matthew-Administrative Services Division, and Executive Assistant to the Chief, and August 2005 - Tamela Adkins- Support Services Division. Together they began the mission of developing from the ground up, a progressive, first-class university police department, rooted in best practices, the highest standards, and staffed by a diverse and highly qualified team.

While our website is not yet functional, you may access information about the Merced Campus by visiting http://www.ucmerced.edu.

The primary roles of the Office of the Chief include personnel actions, budget and finance, recruiting, hiring, response to public concerns, coordination of policy issues and legal matters, campus emergency management, and campus liaison for fire services.

Our inaugural department members include, Officers O’Herin, Partridge, Her, Haworth, Botwright, and Navarette, Dispatchers Roberts, Snowden, Rodriguez, Lyon and White, and student Community Service Officers (CSO), Inouye, Radics, Smith, Siordia, Sims, Ramirez Vu, Yum, Eldon, Mendez, Ramos, Wu. Each member of the department was hired after competing with large pools of applicants, because of their outstanding abilities and expertise in their fields, impeccable ethics and character, and their incomparable pioneering spirit to participate actively as a team in developing the UC Merced Police Department.

The Field Operations Division is comprised of the Patrol Bureau, Special Events, Training and Development, Community Service Officers, and Crime Prevention. Each patrol officer in addition to providing primary law enforcement services to the campus, surrounding community, and our off campus properties has responsibilities, which include overseeing the CSO and Crime Prevention programs, one officer uses his expertise as the training officer and liaison with California Police Officers Standards and Training (POST). We anticipate our full POST certification to be awarded at the April 2006 POST Commission Meeting. Another officer provides range training, and others are active in policy writing, or using their expertise in gang recognition, and traffic enforcement.

Several events occurred during the first month of establishing our police department, which required mutual-aid from our sister UC Police Departments and local law enforcement. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited UC Merced on September 1, 2005. September 5, 2005, the UC Merced campus officially opened with the Chancellor’s Convocation and Grand Opening Ceremony, which was attended by approximately four thousand people including University, local, State, and Federal dignitaries, and on November 9th we provided dignitary protection for University of California President Robert Dynes.

Since our opening on September 5, 2005, thru December 2005, the patrol bureau has taken sixty-two reports, arrested seven individuals, and issued eighteen citations.

Executive Assistant to the Chief manages the Administrative Division, which provides clerical, fiscal, and administrative support for the Department. The Division is also responsible for all lost and found property, inventory management, and the liaison for processing live scan for the UC Merced Human Resources.

Additionally, the Administrative Division Manager was responsible for coordinating two large swearing-in ceremonies, with over one-hundred invitees and attendees for each, and all logistical needs in support of mutual aid for the campus opening and the Governor’s visit.

The Support Services Division consists of the Communications Bureau, Records Bureau, Evidence, and Campus Clery Compliance.

The UC Merced state-of the-art Communications Center is fully operational due to the extraordinary efforts of the Support Services Manager. In four months time the center received approval from the California Department of Justice for access to the California Law Enforcement System (CLETS) and was issued an Originating Agency Identifier (ORI) with corresponding mnemonics, the campus security cameras are installed and monitored in the center, twenty-six blue lights, and the campus elevator phones are connected and answered in the center. The dispatchers are responsible for answering emergency, non-emergency calls and the campus business line after hours and on weekends. Since our Center opening on September 11, 2005, our dispatchers answered five-thousand, eight-hundred and fifty-nine calls. Additionally, our Center is not Computer Aided Dispatch equipped, thus our dispatchers have the challenge of using manual means to perform their tasks.

Only our Support Services Manager staffed the Records Bureau, Evidence Unit and Clery Compliance Unit in 2005. Albeit the need for additional staffing the Manager has initiated processes and systems for each based on best practices.

The Records Bureau is responsible for managing and controlling all police records for the UC Merced Police Department and the Campus Clery Compliance. The Records Bureau processes, distributes and maintains police records and citations. Additionally, the bureau is responsible for coding police reports for use in the Uniform Crime Report, UC System-wide Annual Report, and Federal Jeanne Clery Act. All requests for copies of records and the department’s daily press releases are viewed and processed by the Support Services Manager to ensure proper release.

UC Merced Police Department is still in its early stages of development, however we have laid the foundation for success and we recognize our contribution to the quality of life and a safe and secure environment for our community. We will meet the challenge by continuing to develop a model police department by shaping sustainable best practices in partnership with our community, and by basing our thoughts and actions on respect, integrity, service, excellence and professionalism.