On a brisk Wednesday morning, Bruce Hartman, new police chief of the State Center Community District, steps out of his Honda Pilot. He is smiling. He is wearing a light blue shirt, black pants and dark sunglasses. He appears unassuming in the way he carries himself.
Hartman looks just like any of the innumerable staff members on campus until he turns, and the pistol in his holster is clear for all to see.
He assumed the police chief duties from interim Chief Daniel Cervantes halfway through the spring 2013 semester. Hartman is new to the position of police chief, but his connection to the Central Valley is strong.
Hartman, born in 1955 in the west side of the Central Valley, is a third generation farmer. It was in the small community of Kerman that Hartman learned the importance of hard work and getting things done. He remembers working in the fields from the age of 12.
“In the summer during harvest, I was right in the middle of it all,” said Hartman. “For extra money, my neighbor, whom I still farm with, and his brother and myself used to buck hay out of the fields on flatbed trucks.”
As an adult, Hartman purchased the land from his parents and continues to farm in addition to his police duties.
Hartman recalls that he always wanted to go into law enforcement as a career. He had written about pursuing law enforcement in his high school yearbook at Central Union.
His connection to his new job also runs deeper than simply being born in the Valley. Hartman was a member of the first police force on the Fresno City College campus in 1972 and 1973. He says his time at FCC was crucial in developing the way he deals with people to this day.
“It first started teaching me how to talk to people and how to get along with people,” said Hartman. “And that is what being a cop is. So many people have so many bad contacts with officers and that is one of the things I will not allow.”
In 1976, Hartman joined the Fresno Police Department and worked his way up through the ranks of the force. He accepted responsibilities that included the City of Fresno’s Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization manager. He served as a sergeant at various districts throughout Fresno. Hartman supervised the Southwest district from 1999 to 2010 when he retired from the force.
Hartman remembers his most frightening experience as a Fresno police officer was trying to protect members of the Ku Klux Klan at the free speech area at Fresno State while people around the group were on the verge of rioting.
“I felt I was going to die,” Hartman said of the tense situation. “It was the only time where I haven’t felt in control.”
Hartman’s tasks at FPD ranged from SWAT police work to community work in the various districts he patrolled. No matter the task, he poured his heart into every task no matter the work it required.
“I have a unique philosophy when it comes to getting into things. I watched people who just got promoted. You always hear of the ones who promoted and promoted and promoted and they get into a position and it’s like, ‘I’m in charge now but what do I do?’” Hartman said. “I wanted to make sure I had a good base before I started leading people. It gave me a good understanding of the proper way to do things.”
Even early in his career, Hartman showed absolute care in all the decisions he made. In 1971 during the Vietnam War, Hartman was accepted to the Air Force Academy. His options were to go into the Air Force or join the police academy. He chose to enter the police academy.
“In hindsight, I wish I would have gone, but then on the other side, if I would have gone there, I wouldn’t be here,” Hartman said. “So what do you do? The good lord looks out in different ways, and the way I feel it, He had a hand on me retiring and being where I was and doing what I did.”
The wide variety of jobs he did with FPD set Hartman up for his new job as SCCCD police chief. He seems like a good fit because of the wide scope that the district covers and the diversity of the student body.
“Every part of Fresno is different. You’ve got different lifestyles in them all,” said Hartman.
Hartman said that throughout his long career, he saw, time and time again, how important people skills were in accomplishing things. He looks to bring what he has learned in his long law enforcement career and apply it to his present work.
He looks to bring a new openness and transparency – something that was absent – to the SCCCD’s police department.
“Something we have already initiated is communication, getting a working team together that is not police, that is everybody.” Hartman said. “The joint working ability between the paper, the staff, the students, we need to get it together to where we can be, as a unit, the best providers of information that we can be with communications.”
Of perceptions about the police force on campus, Hartman said, “That’s not the way a police station is supposed to work.” He hopes to have more people involved in changing the culture to create a dialogue with police on the FCC campus.
“You don’t build walls; you blow out bridges,” Hartman said. “You wish there was a wall because then you could at least put a door in it and walk through.”
