Soon after he became chief of the State Center Community College District police, Bruce Hartman vowed to bring significant changes in the way his department conducts its business.

Now, he is making good on his word. In an interview last week, Hartman described new practices that are transforming the way the district police interact with the public it serves.

“Communication is the most important part there is,” he said, “making sure that the communication line stays open.”

For starters, the SCCCD police website now displays email addresses for all officers so that the public can contact them directly with questions and concerns.

Additionally, students can now see police squad cars monitoring activities in the parking lots in the morning hours. Hartman has also ramped up the patrols to enforce parking rules.

“We’ve had so many people [coming] in and not paying because I guess it wasn’t being monitored before,” Hartman said. “We need to make sure we know who is on campus.”

A new program on the FCC campus now has law enforcement officers patrolling the student mall area and outlying areas on bicycles.

Edward Perez, a construction management major, who attends both the Madera Center and FCC, says the addition of cops on bikes is very useful.

“You feel a little bit safer here because you see the cops on their bikes instead of just patrolling in their cars,” Perez said. “I go to Madera Center and you don’t see any of that.”

In the first weeks of the semester, students may have also heard the emergency phones in classrooms ringing and alerting them of the system’s efficacy.

“The system was beginning to be in place but wasn’t functional yet,” Hartman said. “One of the first things that I did when I got here was to get these systems operational.”

In keeping with the theme of adding and updating technology to the police station, Hartman has also made sure that the Internet police logs are updated every day and now include more specific information about the reports.

In the past, the logs were often days and sometimes weeks behind, and lacked necessary specificity and details lack details.

“We are posting them immediately now. That is something that started over the summer,” said Hartman “The crime alerts are going to start to be posted, and they will have everything, dealing with current burglary issues, vehicle burglary, auto theft and anything of interest to students and what they can do about it.”

Hartman is also looking to post the Clery Report online to let students know the statistics of crime on campus. The “Clery Report” mandates that educational institutions post crime statistics and keep them updated.

Hartman is also continuing his work with companies such as Lojack to help track stolen electronics, especially laptops.

“They will come in and provide a program and offer a beginner price and then make it available in the bookstore,” Hartman said.

The police department is also offering new job opportunities for full-time students. Students would earn $9 an hour working on parking patrols and then move up the ranks of the police department.