A new police chief has been appointed to lead the El Camino College Police Department.
Matthew Vander Horck began service on Monday, Jan. 13 and officially took the oath of office during the ECC District’s Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
“It’s a new challenge, a new chapter in my life … it’s a different department, right, but it kind of falls in line with what motivates me,” Vander Horck said. “Every decision I’ve made is because it’s put me in a position where I can be impactful.”
Now the 10th police chief of the department, Vander Horck succeeds Sergeant Ruben Lopez, who served as an interim police chief after the former police chief, Michael Trevis, retired in June 2024 after 16 years of service.
To become the new police chief of the ECCPD, Vander Horck had to go through two phases of interviews, including one with the president of the college.
“He fully understands our vision, our mission, our values, and so under that umbrella and the scope of those guiding principles, we’re going to let him, also, develop his vision,” President Brenda Thames said.
This position is the first time Vander Horck is working in a community college setting.
“It’s nice to have a different perspective, chief [Vander Horck] brings a lot of experience to the table,” Lopez said. “He’s worked in various commands, worked in various stations, so he has a lot of experience and that’s always great, it’s a big asset for our department.”
Previously working for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for 33 years, Vander Horck had served six years as a captain beginning in August 2019 at the Malibu and Lost Hills station.
Vander Horck was leading the station when the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash occurred on Jan. 26, 2020.
The station had received press after media reports indicated that first responders had taken and shared unauthorized photos from the scene and attempted to delete the evidence.
“In the Kobe Bryant crash, I was the one who was against deleting the photographs. I had already opened up an internal affairs investigation which the sheriff [Alex Villaneuva] shut down,” he said.
After the events, the Kobe Bryant Law was passed, prohibiting first responders from taking, sharing or destructing unauthorized crime scene photographs.
“Because of that, because they didn’t follow the playbook … that cost us $64 million and an awful lot of embarrassment,” Vander Horck said.
There are differences between policing in general and policing at college campuses.
“I told him … that we’re very community-oriented, we really do try to put students first,” Lopez said. “We want to let everybody know that we’re here for them, and that’s probably one of the biggest differences between municipal policing and community college policing.”
Vander Horck will implement changes to the station’s services and plans to hire more personnel to fill officer and dispatcher vacancies.
“Those are probably his first goals, as a police chief, to make sure that we have the personnel here so that we can serve the college in a better capacity,” Lopez said.
The budget provided for the police department is less than Vander Horck was afforded at previous stations.
“We don’t have the resources here, so we have to do a lot with a little,” Vander Horck said.
Other changes Vander Horck intends to bring to the station include increasing traffic enforcement efforts, implementing an automated parking management system, creating a social media presence for the campus police, hosting workshops and events, and strengthening community engagement with students and faculty.
“At the end of the day, whether we have a big budget or a small budget, … a lot of resources or not, we are still responsible for the protection and safety of everybody on campus and around it,” Vander Horck said.
