One of the crucial factors for any health care institution, where patients may be experiencing the vulnerability of illness and their caretakers experiencing the stress of providing appropriate and effective care, is that everyone at every level of involvement should feel safe. Our welfare is an aspect of our lives we are often privileged to not think very much about until or unless it is threatened, and it is very easy to overlook the many individuals who are working behind the scenes to safeguard it. Such is the case at Marshall B. Ketchum University, where a dedicated team of highly qualified security personnel ensure that the students, doctors, administrators and staff can remain focused on their life-giving work.
An Experienced Law Enforcement Officer
The Campus Safety and Security Department is led by Jesus Barrera, who has served as the Supervisor while Director Craig Cooper is on military leave. Jesus is a former police officer who worked in the South Pasadena Police Department and the University of Southern California Public Safety Department before coming to MBKU with the breadth of his experience.
As a police officer, Jesus was able to fulfill the dream he had carried ever since he was a 16-year-old who joined the police explorer program in the city of San Gabriel, which was to get exposure to what life as a law enforcement officer was really like. He had gravitated to law enforcement because of the safety and professionalism they represented to him and his family in the city of Rosemead, Calif. “It was an extremely rough neighborhood,” says Jesus, “It was not a safe environment. And when I got out, I figured that becoming a police officer was my way of serving the community, whether I lived there or not, by helping to clean up the streets and create a safe environment.”
A High Level of Professionalism
The campus of Marshall B. Ketchum University is a safe environment, in large part because of the service Jesus and the Campus Safety team provide. There are no moonlighters in Ketchum’s Campus Safety and Security Department. It is composed of unarmed officers, who are vital to the smooth operation of the team, as well as armed ones. The latter are all either former or current law enforcement officers or they are POST-police academy certified. Campus Safety personnel are stationed at all three Ketchum locations in Fullerton, Anaheim Hills and Los Angeles, and while each location might present unique challenges, they all receive the same high level of service from Jesus’ team.
Ensuring and maintaining physical safety isn’t the only way the Campus Safety and Security department serves MBKU. They are also heavily involved in many aspects of campus life, providing CPR training, self-defense courses for the PA program, earthquake and active-shooter drills and training for students on how to avoid becoming a potential victim. Widening the area of their protection by sharing safety knowledge is of particular importance to Jesus, so that he and his team can continue providing a safe space for the good work of the University. “We take great pride in giving the best service we can to the University,” he says. “We take our job and everything it encompasses very seriously. And it’s an honor to provide that safety net for everyone on this campus.”