Staff Q&A: Assistant Vice President and Chief of Police Maricela Gonzalez

By California State University, Bakersfield

January 16^th, 2025

What brought you to CSUB?

I am an alum, so coming back just seemed like a good and natural fit — knowing the environment and knowing what was here and having enjoyed my experience as a student.

How long have you been on campus?

It will be 16 years in January.

What do you love most about the campus community?

It is very much a community, and I enjoy the support that everyone has for each other. From the law enforcement standpoint, I like having the more positive interactions — the day-to-day interactions that we have with our staff, our students…Overall, it’s a positive environment.

How did you initially get into law enforcement?

By accident. I was an anthropology student and anthropology major. As I started going through the coursework, I found it really wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I took a couple criminal justice classes that piqued my interest and did a couple ride-alongs and decided that was an appealing career path.

What sparked the interest from there?

It was the variety of assignments that were available. Law enforcement offers a wide variety of things within the field, so it appealed having the ability to do different things. Not always being confined to an office or being confined to a patrol car; having the ability to do both. Using a varying amount of knowledge for different situations. You’d never know you need math or English skills, until you start doing it.

How has your role in UPD adapted through the years?

I’ve been in pretty much every position available except for corporal. I came on as an officer, then promoted to sergeant after about five or six years and was a sergeant for five or six years. Sergeant is basically that first level of management. I got promoted to lieutenant around 2019-2020. Eventually my role shifted to that of a captain and now chief.

What has the transition been like during those times?

There’s been some learning curves, but overall what’s nice about campus is that it’s very supportive. The things I don’t know other departments on campus have been very helpful with.

What kind of on-campus support and services are available to students?

We have our own police department. Our general response to any calls for emergency services are within a minute or two, especially for high priority. Sometimes it’s even sooner. We’re right there. Our officers are already out and about.

We have all the regular law enforcement services as any other department would have and those abilities. For students, we have:

Escort services. Should they ever feel unsafe on campus (any time of day), they can call our office. We can send someone to walk with them, anywhere within the confines of our campus, just to make sure they have an added layer of security.
We have a jumper cable service for vehicles.
Parking runs out of our office.
Bike registrations, as well as tutelage for how to secure your bicycles. We also provide locks for first-time registrations.
We do regular presentations, as needed, for any classes.
·We try to become very involved with clubs and events much like the Oksoberfest, providing support out there.
We try to do events with the community.
Emergency preparedness is also out of our office, so we do events with campus building marshals to make sure they’re prepared should evacuations be needed.
Run regular drills with campus to make sure students, staff and faculty know how to evacuate should that ever be needed.
Respond to make sure campus can operate as safely as possible when there’s some kind of large scale problem, whether it’s a Hazmat or any other kind of emergency.

What are some of the other safety tips you’d give students when it comes to safety?

Mostly it is an awareness piece, especially when they’re out and about on campus; recognize that we are a public institution, so we are open to the public. Maintain awareness of the folks around you and make sure your items are secured. When you leave the room, take items with you. Especially in the Walter W. Stiern Library, which is open to the public. As lot of people use that. Don’t leave laptops and items like that unattended.

There’s also an awareness for vehicles, about leaving things out in the open where items can draw someone’s attention and allow them to break windows and take the items. Aside from that, we are always willing to provide assistance. If someone wants to come in and ask us a question about what they have in their house like ‘what do you suggest to make my situation a little safer?,’ we can help them with that.

Generally, a lot of our recommendations are tied to awareness when walking from classes to their cars or when they are out and about anywhere. They should make sure of what’s going on around them and not be not engaged on a phone or reading something.

How can `Runners stay informed and let UPD know when there’s something they should investigate or know about?

We have a 24-hour dispatch center, so our dispatchers are here 24 hours a day. If they have questions about general concerns, sometimes it might not be something that rises to the level of an officer. Even a leaky roof or something like that can be called in.

As far as staying up to date on what we have available, our UPD website has recently been updated, can answer many questions and has links to activity we have. We also have our social media where we advertise our events and things that we have going on. Our officers are always out and about all the time and are always willing to talk to the students. Officers, CFO’s – they’re approachable if people have questions.

How does UPD continue to train themselves, as well as campus, when it comes to safety?

Of course, we have mandated training by the state, which includes 24 hours of continuing education. They touch on key items and vary from year to year, cycle to cycle. Every two years, they must complete that. There’s 40 hours they need to complete within the training cycle. We’ll send them out to different trainings to make sure we’re up to date. We just sent our guys to make sure that they’re up to date on using less lethal tactics. We’ve sent people to interrogation investigation classes.

In house, we make sure we’re also training with those that would respond. Twice a year, we do active shooter response, in the summer and in the winter. We do that with our allied agencies to make sure that we are in line with those who are coming to help. Again, we go through and make sure that our folks are up to date on the legal side.

What is the biggest misconception that people often have about UPD?

I think a lot of times we’re seen as security officers, like many junior colleges, but we are a fully sworn police department. Most of our officers come with a lot of experience from other agencies because they’ve been in the field as ‘real police.’ Talking to any one of our officers or dispatchers would give someone the opportunity to learn their often-extensive backgrounds in law enforcement. Our officers are heavily experienced dealing with a lot of different types of situations.

What goals, or vision, do you have for UPD moving forward?

One of the things we’re working on is making sure, not only are we confident in our roles and guiding our people correctly, but that we’re also preparing those behind us for successions. Making sure they’re comfortable in their current roles but also prepping them to become the leaders of this department as we start to navigate our way out. We’re making sure that we’re teaching the next generation.

Is there anything else that campus or the Kern County community should know?

Just a reminder that we are here to serve the campus community. We can be called, even if it is just for advice. We recognize that there’s a transition that’s happening for the young adults coming here for the first time and were there for them if they want guidance on how to proceed going forward with equipment on their vehicles or general pieces on how law enforcement responds. Those questions are always welcome and we’re happy to answer them. We have officers who are willing to take them through. Some of them will show you how to put in a car seat correctly or how to walk through your house and assess for safety. They’re a good resource and want to be part of the education as well.