The Chief's Corner
Police, not po-po
Ron Levine
Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: Columns
"Is this a REAL ticket?"
"Are you the po-po or mall security?"
These are actual questions that our officers have heard over the years. Confusion about college law enforcement agencies and their authority are common all over the United States. Not every college campus even has a police department, but in the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, the cops are the real deal.
Each of the sworn police officers at the District Police Department meet the requirements set by the State of California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training for every state, county and city police officer. The training required of the District Police is exactly the same as agencies such as San Jose Police Department or Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.
So, what does it take to be a cop?
These are the general guidelines for all peace officers in California: no felony convictions, a fingerprint and criminal history check, meeting the citizenship requirements (included are provisions for permanent resident aliens), a background investigation indicating the individual is of good moral character, a minimum age of 18 years, minimum education of United States high school graduation or passage of GED test, a medical and psychological suitability examination, an employment interview and a reading and writing ability test. If you pass all of those requirements, then you attend a local police academy, consisting of over 700 hours of instruction.
After graduation, officers complete a field-training program, which is a minimum of another 10 weeks of training with another police officer. If you successfully complete those two phases, you become a solo police officer and have a probation period (generally a year) to pass.
Our District police officers must be ready to handle any situation they encounter on campus. We train for all hazards, so while we never want to find ourselves in a worst-case scenario, we are prepared to deal with those unfortunate situations. Most of our daily calls are for minor incidents like traffic accidents and petty thefts, but we also respond to calls like disturbances, ranging from someone yelling in class, to domestic violence situations. We handle many of same types of incidents that occur in most cities in the Bay Area. Luckily, we don't have many incidents involving crimes against persons.
As I mentioned in the beginning of the article, people ask if the tickets we issue are "real" tickets. All of our traffic citations are sent to the Traffic Division of the Superior Court in Santa Clara County. If you don't take care of a traffic citation issued by our Department, it could result in a "failure to appear" or "failure to pay" warrant for your arrest. If you don't pay a parking ticket, a hold could be placed on your car's registration and you can't renew it without paying for the ticket. The Vehicle Code also allows for our agency to tow and store vehicles that have five or more unpaid parking tickets. These are situations you want to avoid, so please don't forget to take care of a ticket if you happen to get one.
"Are you the po-po or mall security?"
These are actual questions that our officers have heard over the years. Confusion about college law enforcement agencies and their authority are common all over the United States. Not every college campus even has a police department, but in the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, the cops are the real deal.
Each of the sworn police officers at the District Police Department meet the requirements set by the State of California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training for every state, county and city police officer. The training required of the District Police is exactly the same as agencies such as San Jose Police Department or Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.
So, what does it take to be a cop?
These are the general guidelines for all peace officers in California: no felony convictions, a fingerprint and criminal history check, meeting the citizenship requirements (included are provisions for permanent resident aliens), a background investigation indicating the individual is of good moral character, a minimum age of 18 years, minimum education of United States high school graduation or passage of GED test, a medical and psychological suitability examination, an employment interview and a reading and writing ability test. If you pass all of those requirements, then you attend a local police academy, consisting of over 700 hours of instruction.
After graduation, officers complete a field-training program, which is a minimum of another 10 weeks of training with another police officer. If you successfully complete those two phases, you become a solo police officer and have a probation period (generally a year) to pass.
Our District police officers must be ready to handle any situation they encounter on campus. We train for all hazards, so while we never want to find ourselves in a worst-case scenario, we are prepared to deal with those unfortunate situations. Most of our daily calls are for minor incidents like traffic accidents and petty thefts, but we also respond to calls like disturbances, ranging from someone yelling in class, to domestic violence situations. We handle many of same types of incidents that occur in most cities in the Bay Area. Luckily, we don't have many incidents involving crimes against persons.
As I mentioned in the beginning of the article, people ask if the tickets we issue are "real" tickets. All of our traffic citations are sent to the Traffic Division of the Superior Court in Santa Clara County. If you don't take care of a traffic citation issued by our Department, it could result in a "failure to appear" or "failure to pay" warrant for your arrest. If you don't pay a parking ticket, a hold could be placed on your car's registration and you can't renew it without paying for the ticket. The Vehicle Code also allows for our agency to tow and store vehicles that have five or more unpaid parking tickets. These are situations you want to avoid, so please don't forget to take care of a ticket if you happen to get one.
Be the first to comment on this story