Hancock Forms Committee to Review Campus Police Department Options, Committee Includes Three Current or Former Police Chiefs
Group will review options and provide feedback to college staff
JUNE 23, 2017--Three law enforcement veterans with nearly 90 years of combined experience have agreed to serve on a committee that will review options for the Allan Hancock College Police Department. The six-member committee includes: Lompoc Police Chief Pat Walsh; University Police Department at Cal Poly Chief George Hughes; Chris Nartatez, community representative, former chief of police of Guadalupe and former interim chief of police of Allan Hancock College; Hilda Zacarías, vice president of Allan Hancock College’s Board of Trustees; Emmanuel Guerrero, representative from the college’s California School Employees Association (CSEA); and Valerie Moya, community member and president of Allan Hancock College Foundation Board of Directors.
Discussion of how the college provides law enforcement on campus stemmed from multiple assessment reports of the police department conducted by Allan Hancock College Police Chief Paul Grohowski. He cited six areas in need of immediate attention: inadequate staffing/lack of adequate officer backup; out-of-date policies and procedures; lack of compliance with training requirements; equipment deficits; inadequate facilities; need for upgraded/additional technology.
Those concerns prompted the Allan Hancock College Board of Trustees to instruct college administrators to form a committee to investigate how the college provides law enforcement services on campus. The board requested the committee include one trustee, and members who represented law enforcement and campus police. Community members and a CSEA representative were added to the committee to provide their unique perspectives to the discussion.
Walsh has served as the chief of police for the City of Lompoc since July 2014. Walsh has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement.
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo named Hughes its chief of the University Police Department in August 2012. Prior to arriving at Cal Poly, Hughes served as the director of public safety at Colorado School of Mines. He has spent more than 20 years working in law enforcement.
Nartatez, who retired from the Santa Maria Police Department in December 2014, served as the interim chief of police of Allan Hancock College from September 2015-August 2016. He owns nearly 40 years of experience in law enforcement, including 21 years with the Guadalupe Police Department, the final seven years were in the role of chief of police.
Zacarías was re-elected to the board in November 2016. She represents Area 1 in the district that includes Northern Santa Maria. Previously, she served on the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees and Santa Maria City Council.
Guerrero works as an instructional assistant in the college’s STEM Center. He serves as chapter treasurer on the college’s CSEA executive board. CSEA is the union that represents the college’s classified staff.
The committee will review options presented and provide feedback to college staff. The board of trustees plans to discuss campus law enforcement next month.
- AHC -
