Santa barbara police department1/31/2024 His parents, he says, were “cautiously supportive” of his change in career plans, but worried he might never return to complete his studies and graduate. The family moved to the East Coast when he was 13, then relocated to Southern California before his senior year in high school. He got the position, went through the Police Academy and eventually – after taking a break from his undergraduate education – earned his degree from Berkeley while working the graveyard shift as an officer. “I got to know the UCPD family and really enjoyed them, loved the people who work here – they truly felt like extended family,” he says, explaining his change of course. When a spot as an officer opened up, Yao applied. “After working as a community service officer, I saw that there was another way to do that besides becoming a doctor.” “I’ve always wanted to do something to make a difference, to help people,” he adds. I was proud to be part of the team that provided that service. “I had friends who used it, talked about how much safer they felt. “I saw not only from the police department perspective, but also saw from the student perspective, how much BearWalk was needed,” says Yao, newly installed in a sparse office in UCPD’s Sproul Hall headquarters, just next door to the one he had as a lieutenant. It was his job as a CSO – which he took to support his biology studies at Berkeley - that revealed what he terms “my calling.”Īlex Yao, UCPD captain, with toys, schools supplies headed for Butte County fire victims in 2018. He originally volunteered with UCPD as an undergraduate, then took a part-time job as a community service officer, helping staff, faculty and fellow students to navigate the campus after dark as part of the BearWalk nighttime-safety service. What drew him to police work, he explains, was public service – the same virtue he saw in medicine. If a badge seems a far cry from a stethoscope, Yao doesn’t see it that way. The promotion makes him one of the top three police officials on campus. Earlier this month, after 21 years with the department, Yao was sworn in as captain of the operations division, a job that puts him in charge of 56 police officers and 50 civilian employees. Instead of launching a career in medicine, his biology studies led him straight into the arms of the UC Police Department, where – except for a brief stint at a sister campus – he’s remained ever since. It was his first big step, he believed, toward becoming a doctor.Ī funny thing happened, though, on the way to graduation. (UC Berkeley photo by Hulda Nelson)Īlex Yao came to UC Berkeley at the age of 18 to earn a degree in integrative biology. UCPD Captain Alex Yao is leaving UC Berkeley to become the new chief of police at UC Santa Barbara.
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