NORTHRIDGE : CSUN Police Chief to Take Job at Getty

Stanley Friedman, the chief of police at Cal State Northridge for the past decade, said Thursday he is retiring to become director of museum security for the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu and the $733-million J. Paul Getty Center project being built in the Brentwood hills.

Friedman, 51, a former UCLA police lieutenant commander who took over the CSUN job in May, 1984, said his last day will be Jan. 21 and he will start at the Getty Museum in Malibu on Jan. 24. “It’s a golden opportunity for me. I’m really excited about getting into a whirlwind of activity,” he said.

In recent years, CSUN’s campus police department has been beset by declining funding and staffing. The CSUN police operation has an annual budget of about $900,000 and has about 15 officers, several less than its authorized strength. Friedman is expected to get a raise from the $76,000-a-year salary he said he was earning at Northridge.

Even so, Friedman said he had not been looking for jobs elsewhere until getting a notice of the Getty job some months ago. “When that flyer came in, I had no intention of leaving,” he said. But the Northridge chief said he felt the Getty job “couldn’t have fit me better.” He notified his officers and superiors at CSUN of his departure on Thursday.

In moving to the Getty Museum, Friedman will maintain his association with his present boss, university President Blenda J. Wilson. Last year, Wilson was elected to the board of trustees of the Getty Trust, the private foundation worth more than $4 billion that administers eight programs including the Malibu museum and Getty Center project.

Friedman said Getty officials contacted Wilson about his job prospect only after he became a finalist. CSUN officials had no immediate word about a replacement for Friedman at CSUN, where he also serves as director of public safety. Friedman said of his CSUN tenure, “I’ve made a lot of friends. It’s going to be full of emotion when the days start getting closer to the end.”