NOVEMBER 18, 2014 - UPDATE:
On Friday, November 14, 2014, CSLEA emailed Hospital Police Association of California (HPAC) members a Department of State Hospitals (DSH) Administrative Letter (AL2014-15) which explained the new DSH Law Enforcement Reporting Authority.
On November 18, 2014, CSLEA confirmed that the Administrative Letter was incorrect. DSH is currently working on a corrected version. CSLEA hopes to receive the corrected version within the next week or two. Once CSLEA receives the new Administrative Letter, it will be emailed to HPAC members.
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In April 2014, Department of State Hospitals created the Office of Protective Services (OPS) and hired Chief Kevin Hart to serve as the OPS Chief. In a previous article on June 6, 2014, CSLEA and HPAC welcomed Chief Hart to his position and explained what was discussed with Chief Hart during our initial meeting on May 29th.
Ever since, DSH created OPS, CSLEA has pressed DSH to make changes to the organizational structure and OPS authority. After much encouragement from CSLEA, DSH recently shared Administrative Letter (AL2014-15) with CSLEA, which explains the new DSH Law Enforcement Reporting Structure. Some things have not changed, but others have. Of most importance is Chief Hart's position on the DSH Executive Management Team. This finally provides a law enforcement voice and expertise at the Executive level, which is something CSLEA has long encouraged the Department to establish. This structure may be a work in progress, so CSLEA would like to have our members contact us if they have any issues, questions, or suggestions regarding OPS and the change to the Law Enforcement Reporting Structure.
CSLEA looks forward to continuing to work with Chief Hart in his role as Chief of Law Enforcement.
