Student Service
CSUS Bulletin
February 16-22, 2004
Student Officers Keep Watch Over Campus
At 300 acres and more than 30,000 citizens, CSUS is its own small city. To help keep that city safe the public safety office has enlisted a second line of defense – a team of student community service offi cers, or CSOs, who patrol the campus, on the watch for potential trouble. “They’re the eyes and ears of the department,” says Bill Scholtz, who heads the program. CSUS police chief Ken Barnett asked Scholtz, the former lieutenant of the California State Fair police, to come out of retirement last spring to oversee the program. Since then it has expanded from a residence hallbased operation with six offi cers to a full campus patrol with a staff of 16. The students are not sworn offi cers and don’t carry weapons. They are on duty to be ambassadors for the department, providing assistance and a presence. “Prevention is the main thing,” Scholtz says. “We want them to be alert to not only crime but suspicious activity and potential safety hazards such as spilled water on a fl oor or a downed power line.
“The three things we want
from CSOs are to be highly visible
and if something were to
occur, to observe and to report.
If they see something they can
help the university police by
trailing the suspect or giving
additional information.”
Most of the CSO students
are criminal justice majors
seeking work experience. Edon
“Donnie” Myftari has been a
CSO for two years and expects
to put his experience to use as a
law enforcement offi cer for the
United Nations when he returns
to his native Kosovo after graduation.
“The best part is that my
mere presence is preventing
potential crime,” he says. He
also appreciates the chance to
put what he learns in the classroom
to use in the field. “I get to
see police procedures fi rst-hand
in real life situations. I get the
chance to prepare for what’s
waiting when I get out.”
Myftari suggests any student
interested in law enforcement try
the program, even if it’s just to
fi nd out if the profession is not
for them. “They might fi nd out
it’s not what they want to do,”
he says. In addition to the community
service training the CSOs
receive, they draw a salary and
can get up to six units of elective
coursework credit.
Scholtz also champions the
value of the program as a training
ground. “Experience and
exposure to real life is important.
This is what they’ll fi nd in
the real world,” he says. He sees his work with the student offi cers
as a continuation of the work he
did in his previous law enforcement
positions because he’s always
seen himself in the role of teacher.
For example, he’s a stickler for
offi cer safety and he regularly
seeks out officer safety bulletins to
pass along to the CSOs.
He also makes sure the officers
are on duty when the campus
is busiest. The officers work in
pairs from 8 a.m. to noon and
noon to 4 p.m., Monday through
Friday. They also cover evening
shifts from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
four nights a week and maintain
a presence at the residence halls
seven days a week from 10 p.m.
to 3 a.m.
As part of their regular foot
patrols of the campus, the CSOs
give special attention to areas
where a lot of people gather such
as the bookstore, the library and
the University Union. They also
have two motorized carts for
patrolling the parking lots where
the extra presence has helped fi nd
evidence of break-ins. In addition,
the offi cers provide support
at football games and helped with
security at last semester’s gubernatorial
candidate debate.
Each new group receives six
hours of training on what they
can and can’t do on the job.
“Rookie” officers are also
assigned to work with an experienced
CSO like Myftari for
their first few weeks on the job.
Myftari says he appreciates the
opportunity to work with newer
officers just as the public safety
officers on campus have helped
him.
“I have enough experience to
act as a guide. Not just administering
the program, but setting up
a new generation of officers.”
– Laurie Hall
Capital University News
January 30, 2004
Sheriff to address ‘Breakfast Club'
Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas will talk on “Security in the Sacramento Region” at the next installment of the Breakfast Club Speakers Series, hosted by the CSUS Alumni Association. Blanas will speak at 7:30 a.m., Tuesday, March 9 in the Alumni Center on campus.The free events, which include breakfast, feature a range of guests speaking on hot topics in the Sacramento region in a low-key, off-the-record format that allows audience interaction.
CSUS alumnus Blanas began his career in 1968 as a police officer with the Sacramento Police Department. In 1981 he accepted a position as chief of the California Sate Fair Police. He joined the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department in 1987 as community relations and commander of the sheriff's staff division.
Since then he has worked in various assignment including commander of the narcotic-gang division, chief deputy of county security service and chief deputy of patrol services. He was appointed undersheriff in 1993 and in March 2002 was reelected to serve a second term as sheriff of Sacramento County. Blanas is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy in Quantico, Va. and completed the National Executive Institute of the FBI. He holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from CSUS.
His talk is sponsored by the Criminal Justice Chapter of the CSUS Alumni Association.
Capital University News
October 30, 2002
Student mentors help teens in school
http://www.csus.edu/org/sacment/SacMentoring.htm
A little encouragement goes a long way. In some cases, it can lead to monumental personal achievement like high school graduation for students who had been at risk of not graduating.
In addition to learning about law, criminological theory, and investigations, CSUS criminal justice students mentor Sacramento High School students through a program called "Sac-Mentoring."
"It's a matter of caring about the future," says Aarena Williams, a junior at Sacramento High who has a mentor at CSUS. "There is a good amount of students leaving high school who could make it if they were in a mentoring program."
"I love this program," says Nick Damico, CSUS student coordinator for the Sac-Mentoring at the high school. "I started out as a mentor and liked it so much I applied for work in the program."
CSUS students set positive examples, and in many cases, see their mentees enter college. "Last year, five out of 10 disabled students in the mentoring program went on to Sac City College," said Jason Bebb, a teacher for the deaf at Sacramento High.
"It's an application of real-world experience to academic learning at Sac State," says Ricky Gutierrez, a professor of criminal justice who oversees the program. "A great deal of criminal justice issues stem from lack of education, so we are proactive in creating positive relationships between CSUS students and high school students who are at risk of falling through the cracks of the education system."
Sacramento High School teachers and counselors refer students for the program. It is voluntary, but so popular that the waiting list has grown to 20. "We take the most needy when we have too many," Gutierrez says.
Personal achievement is the big win for all involved in Sac-Mentoring.
"I learned how to deal with different cultural backgrounds and see them from a non-judgmental point of view," says Forrest Silberstein, a graduate student currently writing his thesis on the program. "I didn't realize how I'd lost touch with high school students and their value systems until I had a mentee."
Sac-Mentoring is now in its eighth year. About 100 CSUS students are signed up for the program, and typically 80 to 90 complete it each semester. Mentors spend a minimum of three hours a week with their mentee, plus attend a 50-minute class every other week, and four three-hour activities during the semester.
"The way the program is set up is very encouraging," Sacramento High School student Williams says. "I can call my mentor even if we don't meet that day and get help with my homework."
Sac-Mentoring is funded through a grant from Associated Students, but Gutierrez is exploring additional funding through grants at CSUS, and any other opportunities available in order to expand the program.
"If we can touch the lives of at least 10 percent of the high school students in need of this program, we're doing good," Gutierrez says.
Capital University Journal
Fall 2001
Daniel Cacho
Helping Others Is a Way of Life
Daniel Cacho has accomplished much for himself, but the criminal justice graduate student continues to lift others. He lives by a motto his parents taught him which, translated from his native Spanish, goes “In this lifetime, we have to help each other. Extend your hand to the one at the bottom, and he or she will do the same for another. This society is all about helping others. As you have helped me, one day I will help another.”
Cacho's “hand” has been mentoring students in danger of dropping out. He's spent countless hours with students from Sacramento High School and from Sacramento City College. His bilingual skills have been invaluable.
“I'm a person who, when I help someone and I know someone has accomplished something, it makes me feel good,” Cacho says. He tells those he mentors, “It's not where you come from, it's where you end up that counts. It's not what's on you, but inside you that counts. In the end it is really all about heart.”
This summer he was honored for his work by the California State University system with a Hearst/CSU Trustees Scholarship. The award is given in part for outstanding community service.
When Cacho earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice last year, he became the first member of his family to graduate from a university. And he did it with straight A's. He is now pursing a master's degree in criminal justice at Sac State, and eventually plans to continue helping others as a lawyer specializing in immigration law. He would also like to be a professor someday.
Cacho credits much of his success to strong encouragement from his parents. “I'm doing it as a goal for me, but also as a dream for them,” he says.
