The Sacramento State community last week met five candidates vying to become chief of the campus police department.

 

Charles Hogquist

Hogquist has been the police chief for San Diego Community College District since 2006.

He is a part of a long line of police officers in his family, and he has been part of the police force for 28 years.

Hogquist has worked for the FBI, as well as supervised security and traffic for five Super Bowls and one World Series.

“I like the area and I believe my methods in San Diego are transferable to Sacramento,” Hogquist said.

Hogquist said he believes he can improve parking and traffic issues, as well as encourage officers to become a better part of the campus community by becoming more approachable and serviceable for students and faculty.

Hogquist is also a fan of mandatory faculty self-defense classes so more people are prepared for emergencies.

 

Mark Iwasa

Iwasa has 27 years of experience at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, and is the undersheriff.

As the undersheriff, Iwasa plans, organizes, directs and commands operations of major divisions of the Sheriff’s Department.

Iwasa has worked as a patrolman as well as a watch supervisor in his career, and is eight years removed from working in the field.

He is a graduate of Sac State and lives just walking distance from campus.

Iwasa considers himself as a “fix-it” person who encourages input and collaboration. Iwasa said he hopes his deliberate leadership style can fit in nicely.

“This is a great opportunity for me to utilize what I know about police work,” Iwasa said.

Iwasa said he likes the Emergency Notification System implemented at Sac State.

 

Pitmon Foxall

Foxall is the corporate security manager at ConAgra Foods Inc. in Omaha, Neb. He has also worked as an Omaha police officer in his 30-year career.

Being a third-generation police officer in his family, Foxall said he misses working in law enforcement and believes Sac State can be a positive change.

Foxall said he believes Sac State will be a greater challenge than what he does now.

“I thrive on crisis management; it’s what I do,” said Foxall.

Foxall said he believes in being available, responsible and open to his officers as well as the campus community.

Foxall said his first goal if chosen for the position would be establishing relationships with officers and management.

He also said he wants to be transparent about police programs so University Police can share as much information to the public as possible.

 

David Heaphy

Heaphy is a university police lieutenant and has 25 years of police experience in his career. He has worked at Chico State University for 10 years, the Woodland Police Department for eight years and has been at Sac State since 2004.

Being a family man with a wife and two kids, Heaphy knows how Sac State functions.

Heaphy said he hopes to make progress in plugging University Police into the campus community by reaching out to students and faculty. He also said he wants to have more input and feedback from campus neighbors.

“I want to be connected, responsive and I want to make sure we utilize resources effectively,” Heaphy said.

Heaphy said he wants to educate campus staff to respond to emergencies and for University Police to utilize technology to its full potential.

 

Christina Lofthouse

Lofthouse is another in-house option for the police chief job.

She is also a lieutenant on campus and has 12 years of police experience at UC Davis, UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, and has spent more than a year at Sac State.

Using the media to its full potential in order to notify students and faculty quickly about emergencies is one of the goals Lofthouse said she would set.

“I want to give the media timely, accurate information and the media will help the department,” Lofthouse said.

Lofthouse said she gets information and a consensus with multiple sources before making decisions. She also said she is not afraid of feedback and wants to fix any errors University Police might make.

Unifying the police department on campus and using social media to connect with students can improve this campus community, Lofthouse said. She said she wants students and faculty to feel safe on campus and she wants to let students know officers are always available to help them.

“I grew up as a cop so I don’t think about being the only girl … Women must break barriers and I want to diversify the department,” Lofthouse said.

Russell Preston can be reached at [email protected]