Half of college police back on duty

VVC corrects missing paperwork problem

November 14, 2008 - 4:50PM

By NATASHA LINDSTROM, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • A little over a month after Victor Valley College disarmed its campus police for not having proper paperwork on file, about half of the officers are rearmed and back on active duty, college officials said.

“We’ve gotten through the period of time where we weren’t armed and now we are again,” college President Robert Silverman said. “I think we’ve remediated all of the problems, and I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The campus police officers were temporarily stripped of their guns and investigative duties in early October, when the college conducted a program review and spotted administrative and training deficiencies that were out of compliance with local and state regulations, Silverman said.

In some cases, the college did not have the proper background checks and officer information on file, Silverman said.

“The last few years we weren’t filing paperwork correctly,” Silverman said. “Now we’ve created a new file for each person. We have determined everybody’s level of qualifications.”

Eight of the 15 campus police officers began carrying guns again over the past two weeks, while the others need further training or paperwork completed before getting back on active duty, Silverman said.

“They’ve come back individually, one by one, as we established that they were qualified,” Silverman said.

The college’s review of the campus police came after Police Chief Jack Thomas retired and Craig Baumbusch stepped in as interim police chief at the end of July.

The college is now “deep into the process of hiring a new chief,” who should be hired by June, Silverman said.

Natasha Lindstrom may be reached at 951-6232 or nlindstrom@vvdailypress.com.