The police departments of the University of California system are charged with providing law enforcement to each of the system's campuses.

History The University of California was established in 1868, and moved its first campus to Berkeley in 1873. The San Francisco and Los Angeles campuses followed in 1873 and 1919, respectively. The original UCPD department at Berkeley was founded after World War II. In September 1947, the Regents of the University of California established UCPD, as a state law-enforcement agency.

Authority and jurisdiction The UCPD is one of several police agencies in California having a statewide jurisdiction and authority (other examples include the California Highway Patrol, the California State University Police Department, and the California Department of Fish and Game). UCPD officers, like most California police officers, are empowered by section 830.2(b) of the California Penal Code, giving them authority as duly sworn peace officers throughout the state of California. As specified by Section 92600 of the California Education Code, their primary jurisdiction extends to the campuses and properties owned by the Regents of the University of California, as well as lands within a one-mile (1.6 km) radius of those campuses.

Organization

Each of the tenUC Law SF shares the University of California name by virtue of state law, but is otherwise a discrete public institution separate from the UC system. Rather than operate its own independent police department, the law school contracts with the UCSF Police. University of California system's campuses possesses its own police department led by its own chief of police. There is no single "chief of the UCPD". One chief is selected as the departments' central coordinator. The coordinator is responsible for compiling crime statistics from each campus, as required by the Clery Act, and for ensuring that the various departments are operating within the UCPD's mission. However, each independent campus department's chain of command flows from the University of California Regents through the respective campus chancellor. The coordinator does not dictate the day-to-day operations of a department, and each department sets its own Standard Operating Policies.

Since October 1989, UCPD officers wear LAPD-style dark blue uniforms with departmental patches; their previous uniforms were California Highway Patrol-style tan. The badge is a gold seven-point star with a colored California state seal in the center, a common badge style used by various other state agencies.

Almost all of the departments have a Community Service Officer (CSO) program. CSOs are non-sworn student employees that perform various tasks for the department. Although their job description varies slightly from department to department, most utilize CSOs to perform night escorts, building checks, and general citizen assistance. Because CSOs are not sworn police officers, their main purpose is to act as additional "eyes and ears" of the department.

All of the ten departments use tasers: San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Riverside, Davis, Santa Cruz, and Merced.

Specialized divisions In addition to CSO programs, departments each have a Communications Division, which is the police dispatch center and the 9-1-1 access point for each UC campus. Each department also staffs a Detective Division to investigate crimes and other cases reported by citizens and the patrol officers.

In addition to these standard police bureaus, several departments also staff more specialized police and public safety units. These include: Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Bomb Squad, Crime Prevention Units, Special Response Teams, Crime Labs, Dignitary Protection Units, Negotiation and Entry Teams, and others.

Individual departments

Berkeley

The original University of California Police Department started on the Berkeley campus after the First World War. The very first security employees were three watchmen who wore full-length street carmen's coats. They each carried keys, a sidearm, and a flashlight as well as a switch to chase errant dogs from the Greek Theater stage during weekend concerts. In 1925, Captain Walter J. Lee was appointed to lead the department, which he did for the next thirty plus years. Captain Lee is given credit for the eventual growth and efficiency of the police department.

In 1947, the Regents established the University of California Police Department in its own right as a fully constituted police agency with authority based on Sections 20221 and 20222 of the State Education Code. By 1959, UC Berkeley Police consisted of about twenty-two sworn personnel.

Captain Lee was succeeded by Captain W. W. Wadman. Captain Wadman was the first university staff member in the country who was selected to attend the FBI National Academy. Campus police duties during his tenure included patrolling the campus, enforcing traffic regulations and controlling traffic, investigating reports and complaints, conducting escorts, and policing an assortment of events. Officers usually walked their beats and rarely used cars.

The only communications between dispatchers and officers in the field were staggered hourly call-ins and, at night, the use of the light on top of the Campanile, a regional landmark used to summon officers in emergencies.

In 1959, the state established the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) to develop minimum standards and requirements for all police officers in the state, thus leading to the development of a fully professional police force.

In the fall of 1964, the Free Speech Movement began in Berkeley, a phenomenon which spread to many other college campuses in the following years. In December 1964, the police arrested 774 people in the Sproul Hall Sit-in, the largest mass arrest undertaken in the country up to that time. After the Free Speech Movement, there were seven years of frequent, and sometimes violent demonstrations, including draft protests, strikes, bombings of the ROTC building and PG&E Towers, arsons, and street battles.

One of the most notable on-going protests has been about a piece of university property called People's Park. People's Park history is long and appears to be never ending. The University purchased the land in 1967 to build dormitories, but were prevented from building due to protests. Since that time, all efforts to develop the land have continued to be met with resistance from community activists.

On May 1, 1969, William P. Beall, the retired chief of the Berkeley Police Department, became the chief at UC Berkeley. In addition to his duties at Berkeley, Chief Beall became the first university-wide coordinator of the nine-campus police department system. Chief Beall oversaw the instituting and managing uniform system-wide policies governing recruiting, training, personnel, and performance standards. The nine campus police departments continue to work together closely. The chiefs meet every three months at one of the campuses.

Chief Beall was succeeded by Chief Derry Bowles. Chief Bowles had been the chief of the UC Police Department on the Santa Barbara campus. Chief Bowles led the department through the early 1980s, a time that included massive sit-ins and demonstrations surrounding the university's investments in South Africa.

In 1990, Victoria L. Harrison was selected as chief of police. She was the first female police chief in the UC system, and the first in Alameda County. She came to the Berkeley campus as a lieutenant, having served the first part of her career on the Santa Barbara campus. Chief Harrison served for 19 years. She led the department through extensive program changes and capital improvements. She retired as an emeritus employee and received the Berkeley Citation. On August 1, 2009, Mitchell J. Celaya was sworn in as chief. He was the first UC Berkeley chief to have started his career with UCPD as a police officer at Berkeley, and was the first Latino UC police chief. He worked many assignments as he promoted through the ranks and served as assistant chief for Chief Harrison. He retired December 30, 2012. Margo Bennett, a Captain in the department, served as the acting chief until she was appointed to the position in April 2013.

Davis

The University of California, Davis Police Department is located in the campus Fire and Police Building at 625 Kleiber Hall Drive.

The department is chiefly responsible for police activities on the school's campus and the medical center in Sacramento. The chief of the department is Joseph A. Farrow. The department's officers are armed. Equipment available to them includes handguns, paintball guns used to fire riot-control agents and cans of pepper spray.

The department includes a number of teams and divisions. The Support Services Division, Investigations Division, Training Division, Patrol Division, 9-1-1 Communications Center, Property and Evidence Division, Lost and Found Division, Professional Standards Division and a Security Division. All of these are based at the department's police station at Kleiber Hall Drive and Hutchison Drive.

UCPD utilizes non-sworn student employees in the Aggie Host Security Officer program. These students operate the Safe Ride transportation service, provide event security, and perform security patrols, either on vehicle or on foot.

In August 2017, the new Chief of Police, Joseph A. "Joe" Farrow, was sworn in. Farrow served as the commissioner of the California Highway Patrol from 2008 until his retirement in July 2017.

Irvine

The University of California, Irvine Police Department is located at 410 E. Peltason, Irvine, CA.

IACLEA Accreditation The UCI Police Department is an accredited agency. It began its accreditation review process on February 14, 2022, and achieved official accreditation in September 2024 by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA). In addition to meeting all mandatory standards, the department exceeded expectations by achieving 93% of the optional standards—far surpassing IACLEA’s minimum requirements and demonstrating its commitment to professional excellence.

Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Police Department is located at 601 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA. The department moved into a modern new police station in early 2010. The department is home to both the student Community Service Officer (CSO) program as well as UCLA Emergency Medical Services (UCLA EMS). The EMS program responds to over 1700 9-1-1 medical aid calls on campus, as well as in the surrounding Westwood Village community. At least one ambulance is in service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All of the employees of UCLA EMS are full-time UCLA students who are EMT trained.

Merced

The University of California, Merced Police Department is located at 5200 N. Lake Road, Merced, CA.

Riverside

The University of California, Riverside Police Department is located at 3500 Canyon Crest, Riverside, CA.

San Diego

The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) Police Department is located at 9500 Gilman Drive #0017, La Jolla, CA. This is located at the intersection of Voigt Drive at Gilman Drive in the Campus Service Complex, Building B.

UC San Diego is made up of eight colleges that each have their own residence areas. The interior and exterior of these housing areas are patrolled by 20 residential security officers. Over 70 students make up the Community Service Officer Program, which provides safety escorts on campus.

Police patrol services are provided by seventeen police officers and corporals assigned to the Patrol Division. The Investigations Unit is composed of four detectives and one detective sergeant that are assigned to investigate crimes that occur on the UC San Diego campus.

San Francisco