The El Camino Police Department is preparing for anything as it recently stocked up on new gear and has hopes of training more officers in emergency response tactics, Chief Mike Trevis said.
The ECPD is making it a priority to have police trained in special emergency response tactics and to have the necessary equipment to provide safety for the campus, Trevis said.
“The school has decided there will be no budget cuts when it comes to safety,” Trevis said. “The safety of the school’s students, faculty, workers and visitors is our priority.”
In order to keep the campus safe, Trevis is making a safety-motivated inquiry into which model of armored shields will be most cost effective considering the school’s budget. This is in addition to the 12 riot shields ECPD has in stock.
“I don’t think it’s unethical to order the equipment, but to actually use it would be, unless it’s for emergencies like earthquakes,” philosophy major Tessa Roberts, 19, said.
According to an ECPD Division Council meeting held June 17, the police department placed an order through director of safety and risk management Rocky Bonura for 24 gas masks, four vests, four helmets and four entry ballistics shields costing $26,000.
The gas masks ordered are replenishing the stock, Trevis said, which can be used to go into buildings that have chemical fumes in the atmosphere.
“Equipment like that is obviously used for riots and it’s unnecessary. The police department should be focusing on the chronic sexual assaults,” Eric Butler, 23, major undecided said. “Instead of wasting money stock piling weapons, they should put that money into special needs programs.”
“We had problems in 1992, during the L.A. riots. The campus was attacked and the snack bar was raided,” history professor Arthur Verge said. “I understand why the police department would want to be prepared.”
A 1997 proposal made by the Gardena Police Department’s Lt. Mark Rickerl offered ECPD membership to two officers on their SWAT team to help train EC police.
According to past ECPD Division Council meetings, two officers have been recruited and continue to train for a day and a half monthly.
“There is no need for a separate (EC) SWAT team. EC is not big enough,” Ann Garten, director of community relations said.
“During [the aftermath of] Katrina, a lot of things were learned by emergency personnel,” Garten said. “This type of training is on going so that (the police department) are always learning from the latest disaster (and applying it to) something (EC) might have to deal with in the future.”