Norwalk : Campus Police Department
To strengthen its crime-fighting capability, Cerritos College has changed the status of its security force and renamed it the Police Department.
By elevating the status of the department, the Board of Trustees will have the right to authorize campus officers to carry weapons. For now, trustees have decided that none of the six patrolmen or 17 traffic control officers will carry guns. The name change--it used to be the Security Department--also means that those on the force will receive additional law enforcement training.
The board is now searching for a new police chief to head the department. A survey is also planned to compare wages of Cerritos officers with those at other two-year colleges in the state.
Trustees agreed to the department changes after new board member Mark Durant, a former Cerritos College security officer, pushed to upgrade the school’s security arm.
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