California State University, Long Beach and the Long Beach Police Department announced a comprehensive partnership on June 24, which is aimed to expand internships and hands-on opportunities for CSULB students.
The new relationship give CSULB students a chance to engage in forensics work and research new policing strategies, training and services for LBPD officers and their families.
The new partnership will also allow CSULB to send more students in the criminal justice fields to internships with the police department.
“It’s really a win-win situation because it allows both institutions to leverage the skills, knowledge and expertise of one another,” CSULB Executive Director Michael Uhlenkamp said. “The police department will also benefit because they’ll be able to hire individuals who they’re familiar with and who they’ll know have received the most cutting-edge training.”
The partnership will involve a cross-college collaboration between the College of Health and Human Services, which houses the School of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Emergency Management and the College of Engineering fields of biometrics and bioinformatics, developing software tools for the use of biological data.
“What I have heard [about the program] seems promising and I believe that it will be a great benefit to me next semester, as well as for future students,” said John Chee, a 3rd-year criminal justice major. “I’m very excited to see what working with the LBPD will be like.”
The new partnership will also include opportunities for the School of CCJEM to pursue grant funds for various research projects, the first of which will evaluate an LBPD body camera pilot program. Additional collaborative projects are being discussed for the fall.
“Anytime we introduce new technology, we evaluate its effectiveness, and the opportunity to partner with CSULB’s experts to accomplish that task will be invaluable,” said Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna in a release.
CSULB researchers will assess the effectiveness of body-worn cameras during the pilot phase of the program. The process will include participation in a national study coordinated through the Urban Institute with the goal of establishing more effective police practices through the use of body-worn cameras.
“Partnering with CSULB to provide internships has given many students the chance to gain insight into the operations of our city,” said Mayor Robert Garcia in a statement. “And we’re taking it one step further by connecting students and faculty with our Police Department in research that can ultimately benefit our entire community.”