UPDATE 5 p.m. Feb. 3: An earlier version of this post gave the incorrect location for the swearing-in ceremony.

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By Andy Fell

The UC Davis Police Department’s swearing-in ceremony next week will have a uniquely Aggie flavor: Four of the new recruits are recent graduates of UC Davis, and three of them went through the department’s cadet program.

Police Chief Matt Carmichael also will swear in three other new officers, joining UC Davis from other departments; the new director of campus security; and three new members of the administrative staff.

The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, in Ballrooms A and B, UC Davis Conference Center.

The cadet program, which began last year, is for students in their last year of undergraduate work, and who are interested in law enforcement careers. The Police Department runs the training program consistent with state peace officer standards.

The first class completed the 10-week program last spring, and the second class began this quarter.

Out of the first class, UC Davis presented police academy scholarships to the top five graduates. Carmichael promised to hire three of them after they completed academy — and here they are, as full-fledged officers:

• Catalina Hernandez was born in Veracruz, Mexico, and grew up in Moreno Valley (Riverside County). She graduated with a double major in sociology and Chicana/o studies, and played on the women’s rugby sport club for four years. She began working as an Aggie Host security officer in her sophomore year and later enlisted in the Army National Guard as an intelligence anaylst. She attended the Napa Valley Police Academy.

• Jose Pinedo of El Monte (Los Angeles County) worked for three years on The Pavilion event staff while studying for his degree in sociology and Spanish. He attended the Sacramento Police Academy.

• Manushi Weerasinghe was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 8. She was a cadet with a community college police department (El Camino College in Torrance) before transferring to UC Davis. Here, she joined the Aggie Host program, worked as a supervisor for a year and then began the cadet program. She graduated with degree in psychology, then attended the Napa Valley Police Academy.

Emily Chen, who grew up in Foster City (San Mateo County), is the fourth recent graduate to become a UC Davis police officer. She graduated in 2012, a year before the cadet program began; she put herself through the police academy in San Jose. She is fluent in English and Mandarin.

Other new officers to be sworn in: Mike Carrasco and Doug Voska, both formerly of the Sacramento Police Department; and Mark Tingley, formerly of the West Sacramento Police Department.

Carmichael also will swear in Gordon Scott, dispatcher; Mark Spangler, support services manager; and Thomas Hoffman, LiveScan and records technician.

Security Director Brian Buckley comes to UC Davis after a 27-year career with the FBI. Most recently, he served in the bureau’s Sacramento Division, where he was instrumental in developing partnerships between the university and the FBI, including the Academic Alliance Program and the FBI’s National Security Higher Education Board.

As security director, Buckley is drafting and implementing new security policies for the university, conducting security assessments and developing a new keycard system.

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