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Campus chiefs tell POST university policing demands specialized training
Summary
University police chiefs told the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training that campus law enforcement faces different legal, clinical and operational demands than municipal policing and urged POST to adopt tailored training on crisis intervention, Title IX/Clery compliance and cross‑jurisdictional response.
Chief Mike Densen of the University of California San Francisco Police Department and Chief Anthony Frisbee of Cal State Fullerton told the commission on June 3 that policing on college and university campuses is operationally distinct from municipal policing and requires targeted training. Densen said campus officers routinely handle concentrated populations, academic medical centers and federal research facilities that raise privacy, safety and regulatory demands that "create materially different demands, expectations, and risk profiles."
Densen and Frisbee urged POST to consider specialized training tracks emphasizing crisis intervention, Title IX and Clery Act compliance, trauma‑informed investigative techniques and mutual‑aid protocols for campus environments. "University policing operates within layered jurisdictional frameworks requiring constant coordination with municipal partners," Densen said, calling for enhanced de‑escalation and advanced mental‑health response training.
Commissioners responded with support and examples from experience. Commissioner Brazil and others described the complexity of evacuating campuses, protecting research and coordinating large events, and said POST already has venues where additional campus‑specific training could be included. Several commissioners asked POST staff to bring proposals back for rule or curriculum changes that would let the commission consider specific certification language.
POST staff and the two chiefs noted that California law already gives some universities unique statutory arrangements for campus policing; Chief Grant Bedford (University of the Pacific) reminded the panel that Penal Code section 830.75 has long allowed certain private‑university policing models and that changes to POST practice should account for those statutes.
The commission did not take formal regulatory action at the session but directed staff to return with draft language and implementation options for specialized campus training at a future meeting.
Provenance: topicintro SEG 074, topfinish SEG 566
