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news
CSULB safety
lacks policing
By Dwight Flenniken III
On-line Forty-Niner
University Police
While other California State University campuses are subject
to in-depth systemwide public safety audits, the CSU Board
of Trustees has never audited the CSULB University Police
department.
"There is
no real formula to it," Ann Marie Douglas CSU auditor
department spokesperson said in reference to which schools
are chosen for audit.
The public safety
audits review university police procedures, and parking program
expenditures. The report also monitors budget numbers versus
actual expenses.
During the 2001
CSU Board of Trustees systemwide public safety audit the following
schools were visited: Fresno, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Monterey
Bay, Pomona, San Bernardino, San Diego and San Jose.
Of the eight schools,
only San Diego State has a larger student population than
CSULB.
The 2001 audit
was extremely critical of police action and parking practices
at seven of the eight schools visited.
The audit showed
concern for several current police procedures. According to
the 2001 public safety report seven of the eight schools failed
to control weapons qualifications for officers.
CSULB officers
must qualify with their weapons every three months, said University
Police Lt. Michael Boldon.
Those same seven
schools cited for weapons violations also failed to do a proper
inventory on ammunition used by police; inventory that the
report said would reduce the risk of lost or stolen ammunition.
The group also
found that police evidence was not properly controlled at
five of the campuses visited. Weapons confiscated by police
were also not destroyed in a timely manner.
Use of police equipment
also came under scrutiny at all eight campuses the auditors
visited. The committee report said a lack of authorization
and control at the eight police departments led to this finding.
Budget concerns
In 2001 the CSULB University Police department was awarded
$1.9 million for operating expenses. The department consists
of 26 sworn police officers and seven non-sworn personnel.
These numbers do
not include community service officers that fall under university
police jurisdiction.
"We take care
of all crimes here on the campus," Boldon said. "That
is the difference between having police officers and peace
officers or security guards."
CSULB is home to
33,000 students and less than 2,000 permanent residents at
any one time. The University Police budget is similar to those
of mid-size California cities with full-time resident populations
of 30,000 or greater.
A stark contrast
in expenditures is evident when comparing crime numbers and
the amount of violent crime per department with a small city
like Madera, which has a permanent residence population of
45,000.
Campus crime statistics
for the year 2000, made public through the Jean Cleary Act,
reported 190 total crimes at CSULB. Of those crimes, 14 occurred
on property outside of campus jurisdiction. With a budget
at $1.9 million for the same year, the department spends roughly
$10,000 per crime committed on or near the campus.
In comparison,
Madera, located 18 miles north of Fresno, budgeted $3.4 million
for police in 2000. This budget included $104,000 to police
local Madera schools.
Madera dealt with
2,450 violent crimes in 2000, and spent approximately $1,400
per crime committed. CSULB spend more than $8,000 more per
crime committed than the entire city of Madera.
Another aspect
of comparison is the amount of area each department has to
cover. Equipment, including cars and other transportation,
is the largest university police expense after employee salaries.
CSULB police are
asked to cover an area slightly larger than one square mile.
Many California cities with similar budgets must cover areas
closer to 12 square miles, or 12 times the amount of space.
Although CSULB
is similar in budget size, it neither deals with the amount
of criminal activity nor covers anywhere near the amount of
space as a normal city police force.
Parking Procedures
Another aspect of the 2001 public safety audit was parking
citation controls. The report worried that a lack of internal
control could lead to a reduction in parking fine revenue.
Citation revenue
at the eight campuses ranged between $80,000 and $755,000.
The auditors recommended that the CSU Chancellor's Office
reiterate proper procedures in dealing with parking revenue
and expenditures.
The report also
stated these misgivings could lead to inefficient and inaccurate
citation processing.
CSULB separates
parking and police departments, but many schools in the CSU
system keep them under the same jurisdiction. Therefore, CSU
public safety auditors look at both systems at the same time.
Seven of the eight
campuses were cited for failure to comply with parking procedures
laid out in the Education Code. Parking fines are to be used
for development of alternative methods of transportation and
all areas of parking, including the acquisition of parking
facilities.
The committee felt
that the risk of inappropriate spending would increase and
this would in turn reduce the amount of money available for
the parking program.
"They [universities]
have to send us some sort of support documentation to show
action has been taken," said CSU Senior Auditor Janice
Mirza.
CSULB's parking
procedures were last audited in 1985, 17 years ago. This audit
did not include the University Police Department.
An increase in
student population has lead to parking problems throughout
the CSU system. While other Cal State campuses are audited,
and required to take action. CSULB parking policies have gone
almost two decades without proper oversight.
Auditors may give
recommendations, but cannot force specific actions to take
place.
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