Eight officers to be hired for 2019, with up to 16 by 2020
Del Mar College will have an active police department by spring 2019 and up to 16 police officers by 2020, the Board of Regents heard at its April meeting.
The department has been in development since 2015, when the college hired Lauren White as chief of security to help create it.
The college now uses two-off duty CCPD officers per campus on most days with 26 other security guards from Allied-Universal Security Company who are on duty 24/7.
The police department will start with eight officers in 2019 and work its way up to 16, but will leave the door open for more officers after the southside campus opens, White told the regents.
DMC has already completed some of the requirements, with part of the White Library being renovated to act as a headquarters for the police department, and a budget has been worked out.
About $325,000 was approved in the 2017 budget to start the police department and to renovate the library. Around $1 million may be approved in the next budget to continue building the department.
Some of the cost will go to uniforms, equipment and vehicles, as well as operating costs. Designs for the officers’ uniforms, badges and patches are being worked on.
White said that they expect to have a proposal for the board to vote on soon and to begin the official process getting the state’s approval for the new police department by the end of this year.
