Article 2. College Police of California Education Code >> Division 7. >> Title 3. >> Part 45. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 2.

(a) The governing board of a community college district may establish a community college police department under the supervision of a community college chief of police and, in accordance with Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 88000) of Part 51, may employ personnel as necessary to enforce the law on or near the campus of the community college and on or near other grounds or properties owned, operated, controlled, or administered by the community college or by the state acting on behalf of the community college. Each campus of a multicampus community college district may designate a chief of police.
  (b) The governing board of a community college district that establishes a community college police department under subdivision (a) may also establish a police reserve officer program to supplement that police department.
  (c) Persons employed and compensated as members of a community college police department, when so appointed and duly sworn, are peace officers as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code.
  (d) The governing board of a community college district that establishes a community college police department shall set minimum qualifications of employment for the community college chief of police, including, but not limited to, prior employment as a peace officer or completion of any peace officer training course approved by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. A chief of security or chief of police shall be required to comply with the prior employment or training requirement set forth in this subdivision as of January 1, 1993, or a date one year subsequent to the initial employment of the chief of security or chief of police by the community college district, whichever occurs later. This subdivision may not be construed to require the employment by a community college district of any additional personnel.

Every member of a California Community College police department first employed by a California Community College district before July 1, 1999, shall, in order to retain his or her employment, fulfill both of the following conditions:
  (a) The employee shall submit to the district one copy of his or her fingerprints on forms prescribed by the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice shall forward this copy to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  (b) The employee shall be determined to be a person who is not prohibited from employment by the California Community College district, and, if the employee is required to carry a firearm, shall be determined by the Department of Justice to be a person who is not prohibited from possessing a firearm. The Department of Justice may participate in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in lieu of submitting fingerprints to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation in order to meet the requirements of this section relating to firearms.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure the safety of pupils, staff, and the public on or near California's community colleges, by providing community college security officers with training that will enable them to deal with the increasingly diverse and dangerous situations they encounter.
  (b) After July 1, 2000, every school security officer employed by a community college district who works more than 20 hours a week as a school security officer shall complete a course of training developed no later than July 1, 1999, by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs in consultation with the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training pursuant to Section 7583.31 of the Business and Professions Code. If any community college security officer subject to the requirements of this subdivision is required to carry a firearm while employed, that security officer shall additionally satisfy the training requirements of Section 832 of the Penal Code.
  (c) For purposes of this chapter, "security officer" means any person primarily employed or assigned pursuant to subdivision (b) to provide security services as a watchperson, security guard, or patrolperson on or about premises owned or operated by the community college district to protect persons or property or to prevent the theft or unlawful taking of district property of any kind or to report any unlawful activity to the district and local law enforcement.
  (d) No security officer shall be employed or shall continue to be employed by the district after July 1, 2000, until both of the following conditions have been met:
  (1) (A) The applicant or employee has submitted to the district two copies of his or her fingerprints on forms or electronically, as prescribed by the Department of Justice. The district shall submit the fingerprints to the Department of Justice, which shall submit one copy of the fingerprints to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  (B) An applicant or employee who holds a permanent registration with the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs as a security guard need only submit one copy of his or her fingerprints, which copy shall be submitted to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  (C) An applicant or employee who is registered by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services of the Department of Consumer Affairs, and who holds a firearms qualification card as specified in Section 7583.22 of the Business and Professions Code, is exempt from the requirements of this subdivision.
  (2) The applicant or employee has been determined not to be a person legally prohibited from employment by the community college and has been determined by the Department of Justice not to be a person prohibited from possessing a firearm if the applicant is required to carry a firearm. The Department of Justice may participate in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in lieu of submitting fingerprints to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation in order to meet the requirements of this subdivision relating to firearms.
  (e) Every security officer employed by a community college district prior to July 1, 2000, who works more than 20 hours a week as a school security officer shall meet the requirements of subdivision (b) by July 1, 2002, unless he or she has completed an equivalent course of instruction pursuant to Section 832.2 of the Penal Code.

Every member of a community college police department shall be supplied with, and authorized to wear, a badge bearing the words "Community College Police", prefaced by the name of the district, and shall be issued a suitable identification card bearing his or her physical description, photograph, and authority for peace officer status, and such other identification data as may be required by local law enforcement agencies, countersigned by the chief administrative officer of the district. The governing board may direct the wearing of a distinctive uniform and shall prescribe such a uniform. The governing board shall pay for the required uniforms, equipment, identification cards, and badges.

Any vehicle, when operated in the performance of his or her duties by any member of the police department, is an authorized emergency vehicle and may be equipped and operated as such as provided by the Vehicle Code.