Sacramento State Police’s Community Service Officer program is at full capacity for the first time ever, with almost 70 officers, Police Chief Mark Iwasa said Wednesday.

Active hiring has stopped for students who wish to join.

“They’re probably the single most significant factor in our crime reduction in the last couple of years,” Iwasa said. “The enhanced CSO program is the greatest factor in our crime suppression efforts that go on in our campus. I think they’re extremely vital.”

Iwasa said the program currently gets funding from the police department’s budget and savings money from cuts. The library and residence halls also provide funding because of their utilization of CSOs.

Iwasa attributes failure to keep up with GPA averages and other jobs as the reason why the department loses CSOs every semester.

“A lot of what we do is dependent on the budget,” Iwasa said. “Right now, I don’t see any detriment to the funding, but of course, if funding is lost, we would have to make cuts.”

Psychology student and officer with the program Kelly Heu, 20, said it helps her build self-confidence.

“CSOs who are students understand what other students think,” Heu said. “They also provide a bridge between students and police officers on campus.”

Heu said now that there are more officers, she feels a bit safer, with more CSO officers to back her up should she need help.

Jared Paulin, 20-year-old criminal justice major mentioned a shortage of hours as they are experiencing slow but steady cuts.

”It’s a shame because the program’s really expanded and more and more people want to do this,” Paulin said. “I wish they could expand the number of officers.”

Iwasa said that because of the CSO program, the department has not added any new officers.

“We chopped the budget on the police side but I think we provide a good number there,” Iwasa said. “We have a sergeant, a corporal and officers.”

The police chief said there are 2 to 4 police officers on staff a day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He also brought up a couple vacancies on the police side.

Although they are both involved in providing a presence, Iwasa said police officers have a different role on campus because they respond to crimes that are in progress and provide for transactions involving cash. CSOs have no responsibility in those duties their only recourse being to notify police officers by radio.

“They’re more our eyes and ears,” said Iwasa. “CSOs have to go through a background check and they’re trained on radio procedures and other things but it does not even get close to the training that police officers have.”

Iwasa also said the department just hired a security director for the campus, who will soon be revamping the entire electronic security plan for the school.

“The system right now is not really integrated,” said Iwasa. “Our cameras are used for evidence after the factor. In the near future they’ll tell us what’s going on at the moment.”