With over 17 years of experience working in student-centered environments, Mr. Hector Martinez joined the Westridge community this February as the new Campus Safety and Security Manager. Mr. Martinez previously spent seven years at Azusa Pacific University (APU) in their campus safety department. Before that, he was a site supervisor for 10 years at Think Together, an afterschool, non-profit organization for lower-income students. 

Westridge’s close-knit community and forward-thinking approach to collaborating inspired Mr. Martinez to make the change from APU to Westridge. Mr. Martinez described the contrast between APU’s environment and Westridge’s as a “big city” to a “small town.” “APU was like a big city, where you had a lot of different departments who specialized in one thing. Whereas I feel here at Westridge, it seems to be a very family culture type of community. We’re a little bit more like a small town, where you have less people working, but they all wear multiple hats. In that sense, everybody has to kind of lean on each other,” Mr. Martinez said. 

The closeness of the Westridge community allowed Mr. Martinez to better understand his colleagues’ work styles and personalities. He discovered that his colleagues’ approach to collaborating was “very forward-thinking,” and that they were “willing to apply new ideas to learning.” 

Mr. Martinez appreciated that some security policies at Westridge are not set in stone and that someone that has new ideas Westridge has not implemented before is allowed a chance to contribute to improving current security measures. From his experiences, Mr. Martinez described the personalities of Westridge’s staff as “very welcoming,” making an easy transition from APU to Westridge. 

Since Mr. Martinez’s interactions with Westridge students have been limited with the exception of carline, he encourages students to reach out with any concerns they spot on campus. “I don’t have eyes everywhere,” he said. “Bring me ideas because I don’t see everything and I’m still learning. My doors are always open.” 

In addition to his professional life, Mr. Martinez balances college and time with his family. Currently pursuing his Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Psychology from Los Angeles Pacific University, Mr. Martinez said, “Balancing that with this job is a little tough, but I’m managing.” 

As a father of two young kids, Mr. Martinez understands how time away from work can also be helpful. “I realized I need to go home and spend some time with the kids, and that helps me decompress from the day and helps me relax a little bit. And then I could come into my school and work with a much clearer vision,” he said. 

Furthermore, Westridge has increased their collaboration with Allied Universal Security Services, a private security and staffing company based in Irvine, California. Mr. Marcus Randolph, Campus Safety Officer for over nine years, explained the role of Allied Universal Security Services. “We worked with them before. They used to do our weekend security, and I think they’re just a really strong, reputable company. They have a lot of guards that work in school environments,” he said. Allied Universal Security Services currently works to supervise carline, the Westridge campus over the weekend, and major school events. 

Mr. Randolph also commented on Allied Universal Security Services guards’ adjustment to Westridge. “Usually all the guards who come in have a base of what security is. I just educate them on how Westridge culture works as far as campus safety and security, and we just go from there,” he said. 

Over the summer, the Campus Safety team will be tackling new projects like upgrading security procedures. Mr. Randolph said the team plans on increasing emergency supplies, scheduling more lockdown drills, and building a new security kiosk. “We got a lot of upgrades we want to do to security to make it a lot safer around [Westridge],” he said.

Overall, Mr. Martinez and Mr. Randolph feel confident in the current Westridge security measures. “We are fully staffed, and everybody’s working together,” said Mr. Randolph.