By Michael Travis
News Editor
Pepperdine University launched a new era for its Department of Public Safety when it announced the appointment Friday of Earl Carpenter as the new director.
Carpenter promptly said in an interview with the Graphic that the department will set a new course — focusing on playing a more service-oriented role in the campus community.
“The most important thing to remember is that we are here to serve the best interests of the students,” Carpenter said. “We will do everything that we can to accomplish that.”
He hopes to significantly improve the relationship between the students and Public Safety officers.
“I want students to know officers as individuals, for their own uni-queness and personality,” Carpenter said. “I want to ensure that we are taking an interactive approach with students rather than a reactive approach.”
These policies are in sharp contrast to the policies of former director Jim Huffman, who stressed the importance of Public Safety’s role as a professional campus police force. A number of ex-law enforcement people were hired when he served as director.
While Huffman’s approach was praised in times of campus crisis, such as the Malibu firestorms of 1993 and 1997, it sometimes angered students. Just last fall, some students accused certain DPS officers of racial profiling in incidents involving the detainment and questioning of students.
The new director, however, will work to put such incidents in the past.
Carpenter has many long-term goals for the department including raising community awareness about things such as theft prevention, substance abuse and personal safety.
Plans for programs and information sessions are currently in the works, including bolstering the security of dorms and stemming the growing trend of alcohol abuse in colleges.
“One incident is one incident too many,” Carpenter said. “We are currently reviewing our entire operation to determine how we can better serve the students, faculty and staff.”
According to Carpenter, part of the review process will include input from several different departments on campus. He is planning to work closely with the Residential Life Office, Campus Life, students and other organizations to determine how Public Safety can play a more efficient and involved role on campus.
“Pepperdine is blessed with high caliber students and administration,” Carpenter said. “I am looking forward to working with them.”
Carpenter began his work with Pepperdine’s Department of Public Safety in 1987, and has served as deputy director since 1994. He has more than 37 years of municipal and educational law enforcement experience, including the Hunting-ton Beach Union High School District Police Department and the Westminster Police Department.
He is a vice president of the California School Peace Officers Association and has worked with and advised the California School Safety Center and Pepperdine’s National School Safety Center. He also is a member of the University Working Group for the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory Council.
Carpenter and his wife, Cara, reside in Moorpark and have two grown children.
April 04, 2002
