The UCPD Vision Statement

Following the years after World War II, the first University of California Police Department (UCPD) was founded at the University of California, Berkeley. It was in September 1947 that the UCPD was founded by the regents of the UC-system as a way for each UC-school to have its own police-department. The UCPD is today a public facility that lies across all UC-campuses and serves the purpose of keeping the university-community safe. The vision statement of the UCPD (specific to UCR) is as follows: “The mission of the University of California Police Department, Riverside is to enhance the quality of life by providing a secure and safe environment through professional service to the University community”. Through having conducted an extensive interview

From his explanation, it seems like the process is indeed very long and extensive. First, you need a total of five months of training at the Sherriff’s Academy. At the end of this, you need to pass a mental and physical test. Next, you need six months of training at the UCPD. Thereafter, you go through another training process with a Field Training Officer whose role is “to train new officers so that each is prepared to function as a solo beat officer at the conclusion of their training cycle”. That’s still not the end of it. You then need to pass another final mental and physical test to prove eligibility to becoming a police-officer. As can be seen, the process is no piece of cake and although it is long and hard, it certainly prepares you to become a police-man. As noted in the interview, it “most certainly gave [him] the skills necessary to become a police-officer”.

I then asked him what the daily life of a police-officer looks like. He explained to me that it varies from day to day, but that there’s a general trend. The usual pattern goes as follows: wake up, go to work, get a roll call, check your email, and get the other night’s briefing. Once you are finished with all of these duties and tasks, you go into your vehicle, put your equipment inside the vehicle and then go on patrol. So you essentially first wake up to make sure everything’s in order and then go out to deter and hinder as much crime as