Walking along the dark campus after finishing night classes is the norm for many students on campus.

Going to the parking lot and finding missing vehicles, which is not an everyday occurance, has happened to students.

Turning around and finding one’s belongings are suddenly missing when they were there just a second ago has also happened to far too many students.

For each of these incidents, the EC Police Department is on patrol to help students and faculty when they are afraid of walking to their car late at night or have just discovered that they’ve been victimized. With approximately 40 employees, the police department is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and handles everything from parking citations, drug-related arrests, to thefts.

What some students may not know is that the college was at one point, one of the first California community colleges in the state to form and maintain a Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST,) Commission certified police department.

The department also employs students who are interested in working as cadets. Cadets assist the police department in providing quality law enforcement services to the campus community.

The police department has made it possible for students taking classes at night to use its nighttime shuttle service.

Students can use the service which operates from 6-10:30 p.m. According to

the EC website, the emergency phones are the blue poles located throughout campus along walkways, and parking lots.

They’re to be used in case of emegencies or to request the shuttle service.

By pressing the red button, the police department can be contacted.

The phone rings directly into the Police Communications Center and are automatically identified by location.

People who have been locked out of their vehicle on district property or might have a dead battery, can request assistance in order to gain entry to their vehicle or getting a battery jump.

Receiving a call of vandalism and theft, Officer Ruben Lopez investigates a damaged food vending machine outside of Café Camino near the Humanities Building. The suspect(s) used a tool like a crow bar to force open the glass door, causing it to shatter. Police noted that the suspect(s) appeared to have stolen bagged food items before fleeing.