Sixty years ago, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to celebrate the construction of the first three buildings on the 13-acre campus then known as California State College, San Bernardino. One year later, in 1965, nearly 300 students and 93 faculty and staff members arrived, ready to fulfill their dreams of a higher education and academic discourse at the state college system’s 19th campus.

But it wasn’t until 1974 that CSUSB’s University Police Department (UPD) was established with a singular officer and a singular goal: campus safety.

Today, as the department celebrates its 50th anniversary, its overarching mission remains the same – campus safety – but it has grown to meet the demands of two campuses, with a combined 460 acres, 60 buildings, more than 18,000 students and nearly 2,000 faculty and staff members.

University Police Chief John Guttierez, who has served as a police officer for 33 years, joined CSUSB in 2021 as police lieutenant and was named chief in 2023. He laughed when asked who managed campus safety before the department was established.

“The job was handled by a night watchman, who was a campus custodian during the day,” he explained. “The custodians knew everything about the campus. They had the keys, they knew every little nook and cranny of the buildings they were cleaning. They became the official night watchmen, who were locking up the campus and patrolling the grounds at night to see if anyone was trying to break in anywhere. They weren’t trained as police officers.”

Officers train on campus to be prepared for almost any situation to look out for the safety of students, faculty, staff and university guests.
Officers train on campus to be prepared for almost any situation to look out for the safety of students, faculty, staff and university guests.

Guttierez said that “through the vision of various presidents on campus, UPD evolved to what we see today.”

And the picture today is that of a state law enforcement agency, whose officers are vested with powers and responsibilities identical to the municipal police or sheriff’s department, with oversight of CSUSB’s parking and transportation services, the emergency operations center, the 9-1-1 call center — and much, much more.

Guttierez said the department is well on its way toward achieving accreditation with the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) — a goal that has been his focus since assuming his role as chief.

“IACLEA is the largest professional association devoted to excellence in campus public safety and law enforcement — being accredited means we have the highest standards and up-to-date policies and procedures; it’s huge in the university world and in the police department world,” he said. Once accredited, which could be as early as June or as late as December, CSUSB will be only the fourth of the 23 universities in the CSU system to achieve IACLEA status, he noted.

And, in 2023, the department also created an ongoing partnership with the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health to provide crisis intervention services and intensive case management to students, faculty and staff who may need services.    

Since his appointment as chief, Guttierez has worked diligently to broaden the department’s responsibilities, create a culture based on trust and respect and implement a new model of cooperation and community policing. 

“We’ve made great strides in changing our culture, rebranding the organization and creating a new mission statement,” Guttierez said. “We know that most our students come from our neighborhoods in San Bernardino and Riverside counties where at times, their interactions with the police are not the best. As a result, we have to work two, three, four times harder to change their perception of how they view the police, particularly, how they view us. Today, we have students who tell us, ‘I never had a positive interaction with police until I came here.’”

Creating new opportunities for positive interactions among the campus community is part of the department’s mission.

Officer John Taitano (right) poses with two graduating students at the 2022 Latinx Graduation Recognition Ceremony.
Officer John Taitano (right) poses with two graduating students at the 2022 Latinx Graduation Recognition Ceremony.

Guttierez has implemented a monthly Coffee with a Cop Day, during which he, other police officers and community service officers don aprons at the campus Starbucks and serve coffee and pastries to students, faculty and staff. They’ve launched the same series specifically for international students and have launched a campus-wide, twice-yearly pizza event.

“Through these events, we get to know our students,” the chief said. “We get to find out what they're majoring in and how we can help them. We invite them to the station for mentoring if they need help.

“It’s really helped to bridge the gap and to get our campus community to really see us and know us in a different light other than as a uniform,” he said. “I'm big on humanizing the badge so that they know the person with the badge is a human who really cares about them. We're impacted by the same things they're impacted by, but we're trying to help them connect to resources, information, and get through their educational journeys in the most profound way possible.”

In 2022, Guttierez created a unique program called “The Best Officers come from within CSUSB” in partnership with CSUSB’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. After graduating, criminal justice majors interested in a career as law enforcement officers join UPD, which sponsors their education and training at the police academy. Upon completion, they return to campus to serve the community as police officers. The program also aligns with CSU’s Graduation 2025 Initiative, the goal of which is to increase graduation rates, eliminate equity gaps in degree completion and meet California’s workforce needs.

CSUSB police officers Victor Rodriguez, left, and Raudel Garcia-Reynoso at their San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy in 2023. Both are are CSUSB alumni who are now part of the UPD force under a under a partnership with the department and the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
CSUSB police officers Victor Rodriguez, left, and Raudel Garcia-Reynoso at their San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy in 2023. Both are are CSUSB alumni who are now part of the UPD force under a under a partnership with the department and the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

“The beauty of the program is that these new officers remember how they felt when they were students, so they know how to treat people,” Guttierez said. “They know how to approach students, they know how to approach staff. They're not afraid to engage. Whereas historically, UPD would hire officers who were retiring from the sheriff's department or from some other police department. They bring 25, 30 years’ experience of a different culture and mindset and have an entirely different approach in the way they treat people, which isn’t always perceived as positive.”  

Guttierez says his vision for the department is “that we become a cornerstone for the campus with a modern police facility, where we can host trainings for our campus community, as well as town hall meetings. I envision a facility that allows us to play a more intricate role that is integrated into the academic and educational environment of the university, perhaps with a crime lab program that ties into the School of Criminology.”

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the department will host a reception on May 1 from 11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m. at the Alumni Center in the Obershaw Dining Room. The university community is invited.

“I can’t think of any better law enforcement job to have in the world than one where you get to have an ongoing engagement and positive influence on our students, faculty and staff,” said Guttierez. “We are truly helping to transform lives and deliver the next generation of leaders through education. And to be able to be a law enforcement officer, protecting the greatest gift known to man, which is an education.”