Thank you for your interest in the California State University, Northridge Department of Police Services. As an accredited law enforcement agency, we pride ourselves on our professional standards that provide the basis for our operational policies and procedures. Our department is synonymous with excellence, professional performance, and innovative practices. We set a high performance bar for professionalism and community service for our officers to ensure they operate with a community policing style in an environment supportive of educational, professional, and extracurricular activities. We encourage all qualified men and women to learn more about and consider the advantages of policing in the higher education environment along with the excellent state benefits and opportunities available for professional development and policing assignments.
About the CSUN Police Department
In 1958, when the California State University, Northridge police department was established, “security guards” received calls for service via a steam whistle on top of the boiler plant on campus. That whistle would be the signal for a guard to call the office and find out where they had to go for whatever type of problem they needed to handle. Apparently it happened very rarely and the campus was pretty much bucolic.The department has grown significantly since that time. In January 1974, the department became a POST certified agency. All sworn personnel are certified by the California Commission of Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST). Most notably, in May 2008, the Department of Police Services became accredited by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA).
Fifty years after being founded, the department has progressed to be a highly trained, professional police force striving to be the very best in the California State University system. Gone are the days of steam whistles! The department’s new 26,500 square foot facility opened to the public in April 2007. The state-of-the-art Communications Center is equipped with customized consoles and temperature controls for the comfort of each dispatcher. A Title 15-approved detention facility and a forensic laboratory for immediate testing and analysis of evidence and property complete the cutting-edge structure.
The primary jurisdiction of the university police department, according the California Penal Code, is a one-mile radius beyond the perimeter of the campus. However, according to case law CSU police departments have jurisdiction throughout the state of California. As a practical matter, the department patrols the campus as well as the surrounding neighborhoods.
More information on the history of the CSUN Police Department
