Campus Security Shifts to In-House Operations: A Q&A with Chief Hampton Cantrell
Caltech's campus hosts modern and historic buildings, cutting-edge research facilities, and a community dedicated to science and engineering, so the security forces tasked with serving and protecting campus must have a deep understanding of the Institute and its people. To bolster its security operations, Caltech has recently transitioned from contracted security officers to a full-time in-house campus security team.
We sat down with Caltech's chief of campus security and parking services Hampton Cantrell to discuss this initiative.
Why has Caltech transitioned to an in-house campus security team?
One of the big reasons for this shift is that the community at Caltech told us they wanted to get to know their security officers. With contract security, you get a good number of people coming and going in their roles. What we hope is that by having full-time security officers who work for Caltech, people will get to see the same officers over and over again, become familiar with their faces and names, and build stronger connections. This will allow a much more personalized level of service to our community.
What are some other benefits of having an in-house security team?
In addition to facilitating connections between officers and community members, this change will enable officers to develop a deep understanding of Caltech's campus and its security operations. Working at Caltech is different than any other security job: We have underground utility tunnels, dozens of different kinds of labs, and other unique features our officers must be familiar with. The new team members we've hired have the skills, versatility, and continuity to be proactive and thoughtful in their approach.
While our contract staff were focused mainly on basic security duties like patrolling and providing building access, this full-time team is empowered to handle nuanced or ongoing security issues. We're able to meet every week as a group to discuss our work, to share experiences and observations from across campus, to identify challenges, and to develop solutions and recommendations to enhance our work and the campus environment. And more importantly, because of the level of skill that we've recruited for, we can have meaningful conversations with the community to better inform our response.
What kind of skills did you look for when hiring full-time security officers for Caltech?
Hiring a new team in-house has allowed us to define our own standards when recruiting officers. One of the most important skills we looked for was communication. Active listening, empathy, and interpersonal skills are key to the security officer role, and the team members we have hired are excellent in this area. We want to ensure they can communicate why they're here and what Caltech is all about.
Other traits, including integrity and discretion, geospatial awareness, and demonstrated skill in security operations are also very important. I really like the great personalities and valuable experience our new officers are bringing from their various jobs out there in the world. We've hired officers from many reputable companies, even some from places with distinctive security needs, like Disneyland.
It's a big bonus to have medical care certifications. All of our security officers have first aid, AED (defibrillator), and CPR certifications, and eight of our officers and a couple of our supervisors have emergency medical technician (EMT) certifications. We are building an incentive structure to encourage more of our security personnel to receive their EMT certifications. We feel this is one of our signature capabilities—the ability to respond at a higher level of care to medical emergencies on this campus.
How do you anticipate this transition will shape the dynamic of campus security?
I want the Caltech community to come away feeling confident in the security and safety response at Caltech. If there is any situation, our community members can trust that the security officers who show up will be knowledgeable, thoughtful, and professional. There are three C's that I emphasize to my team, which I hope are evident in the work we do: collaboration, communication, and consultation. Consultation is the ability to work with our partners across campus to ask "What are your problems? How can we help?" and have that two-way trust and dialogue.
Our new team is meeting regularly with Student Affairs, Student Wellness Services, Environmental Health and Safety, other Facilities departments, various lab groups, and students and staff across the Institute to ensure the security services we provide reflect the needs and values of everyone at Caltech.
We're excited about the opportunity to serve this community in a more holistic and responsive way, and we look forward to growing together.
