Helping keep Pierce safe

Caleb Johnson Roundup Reporter

In a sea of current fashion, it’s easy to spot Melissa Hidalgo wearing her issued uniform -- a blue shirt and navy pants -as she patrols the Pierce College campus.

Hidalgo is one of 13 cadets, an hourly, part-time position that many people mistake for a police officer.

They are not sworn to oath as officers. Their duties are extensive, including general campus safety, escorting students, crime prevention and parking enforcement.

Melissa Hidalgo, a 20-year-old nursing student, is one of the 13 cadets at Pierce College. Her time as a cadet has made her consider law enforcement as another opportunity, to give back and protect the community.

“It’s definitely a great experience,” Hidalgo said. “You really learn a lot about the campus and what is going on.”

The cadets must go through a thorough background check and interview to be considered for their position. Candidates must also submit references and write a small autobiography to allow the sheriffs to get to know them better.

A friend of Hidalgo’s recommended that she try out the program, but the involvement and interest that she has developed has been unexpected.

The importance and quick pace of the position is tempting for her, making the choice between nursing and law enforcement more difficult than she had first expected.

“It’s nice to be more involved,” Hidalgo said.

“I think both jobs are important.”

The cadets learn through experience, getting to know the campus on a deeper level, committing police codes to memory, and gaining general experience through the officers.

“Mostly our job is to be their eyes and ears on campus while [the sheriff’s] not there,” Hidalgo said.

There is little in the way of a regimented course like full-officers must go through, allowing students to learn about the field without overextending. Jonathan Holguin, a cadet on the road to becoming an officer, says many of the negative assumptions about the position are unfounded.

“Every day you are helping someone out,” Holguin said. “We just want to keep the school safe.”

Hidalgo agrees with Holguin saying that her time so far as a cadet has been positive, granting her a deeper knowledge of the campus and the ability to help keep the school safe.

The officers even tout the importance of the cadets as part of the security force on campus.

“We need good people,” said Officer John Weber, one of the 13 security officers in the department. “Each day is a new experience.”

According to Angie Moore, senior office assistant at the Sheriff’s station, applications that are submitted are reviewed during the winter and in the summer.

Those interested in joining the cadet program can download the application on the Pierce College Sheriffs Department website or call the station at (818) 719-6450.

The presentations fall in line with past active shooter, Community Emergency Response Team and sensitivity training sessions that have previously been hosted on campus.

Additional sessions could be added to the ones already scheduled, depending on the needs of the Pierce community.

In addition to general knowledge of safety protocol, the staff session will teach faculty how to handle situations in the classroom.

“If we go in the emergency response direction we think is most feasible, that means each faculty member--when the crisis happens-becomes an administrator in the classroom,” said Schleicher. “We want to make sure they’re comfortable with that because it’s not contract driven. it’s driven by, basically, responsibility.”

Teachers need to be seen as the person in charge in the classroom and should be respected at all times, according to Schleicher.

“Some professors might feel comfortable giving students direction; others may not. Regardless, students see that faculty members being the leader in the classroom. We’re trying to create a stronger dialogue,” said Schleicher. “The training can only be as good as they’re comfortable delivering. We can kind of dictate it out based on what we know of risk management but we thought it would be better to develop a more holistic approach and get their input.”

Students will also be taught how to respond in emergency situations.

“Students are actually the biggest part of our emergency response, because students partaking and safeguarding themselves is the best thing,” Schleicher said. “We learned from L.A.X. When the assault came, people were doing all kinds of stuff to put them in harm’s way. We’re trying to learn from these incidents, like when you have a mass scale, how are they going to react if someone comes in with a semi-automatic? [They’re going] to run away, but we want to make sure they don’t run in the street and get hit by a car or do something else that’s odd.”

Construction

In addition to improving on security measures already in place, Schleicher is also looking at construction projects so that physical safety measures can be planned as the school moves forward with each building. For instance, Schleicher said that he and Kraus had walked the perimeter of the construction area north of the Mall to figure out what was needed before meeting with district officials to report their findings.

The school is also trying to figure out access controls like locks on the doors, district-wide identification cards and intrusion alerts.

“I’m pushing those initiatives to be done at our construction program,” Schleicher said. “Those take time, because I walked into a construction program that was part of the Facilities Master Plan but didn’t have a high emphasis on security because in the past, security wasn’t as much of an issue as it has been in the last few years.”

Even though it will take a while for these to be put to effect, Schleicher says his determination with improving the new buildings’ safety measures is, in turn, helping speed things along with completing construction.

“These concerns are as important as getting new instructional areas,” he said. “If we get construction moving forward, then we can solve some of our security issues.”

Because safety and construction are interrelated, Schleicher has to depend on the bond money that is set aside for the buildings.

“It’s a huge challenge for us. We know what to do, but executing it is a funding issue,” he said.

[See SAFETY, pg. 4]