RE: “Students Save on Transportation through A.S. Ticket Office,” by Jeremy Foster, published in Oct.25.

I find it interesting that you mentioned besides the special student discount for public transportation the fact that students can quickly and easily file complaints against bus drivers who endanger traffic safety. I no longer use a bus at all, even though rising gas costs combined with student discount incentives give me pause about this.

However having used the bus to commute to both school and work in the past I do find it true that many bus drivers do indeed ignore traffic rules and unnecessarily endanger people. I say you are right in mentioning common complaints that buses switch lanes without signalling. This has happened to me countless times when I was cut off by a bus driver and when he would have the gall to flip me off after the fact. In this case not only is it a traffic safety problem, but one of attitude. Thank you for mentioning this, and pointing out how easy it is for passengers to hold bus drivers accountable. Just because they drive a bus doesn’t make them invincible, nor should it.

– Kevin Naruse

This letter to the editor is to clarify some issues concerning background checking of CSUN students who are hired by University Police for jobs with the Matador Patrol personal safety escort service. This clarification is being written in response to a recent open letter to Public Safety command staff in the editorial section of the newspaper by two parents.

It is important to point out that all members of the Matador Patrol who are hired by University Police for campus jobs are background checked via an interview process by a member of the police command staff. Former employers, family members, former teachers and others in a student’s life are some of the individuals that are interviewed in order to determine the character of the students we hire. This type of check normally eliminates some individuals from being hired. Last year alone six students were rejected for these positions.

While some may feel that a fingerprint check is a more appropriate format for background checking, this type of check (for young adults the age of college students who are hired for this service) rarely points out any criminal backgrounds, as fingerprinting alone cannot reveal information about character, suitability for the position, etc. as an interview can. What criminal backgrounds may exist for students of this age are generally sealed juvenile records. Periodically members of the Matador Patrol are subject to a fingerprint check as a random check and balance to our hiring system. A recent random check showed no individuals with criminal backgrounds.

It is also worthwhile to mention that never in the history of the Matador Patrol service has a CSUN student employee committed an assault or any other type of crime against another student on campus. We consider this excellent safety record confirmation of our more tedious but effective background interviewing process as an appropriate means to examine the type of students we hire for this valuable campus service.

– Chief Anne P. Glavin, CSUN Police Department