For the last few years Skyline College has been ranked as the college with the lowest crime rate compared to colleges in the area.

In the 2004 school year, Skyline had a total of five reported crimes ranging from burglary to auto theft. Some other colleges that were selected in these ratings are Canada College (ranked 7th), CSM (tied 5th), De Anza (11th), City College of San Francisco (9th), Cabrillo (tied 5th), UC Berkley (12th) .

In the last few months the San Bruno Police Department has been called to Skyline no more than ten times, mostly for minor traffic infractions.

San Bruno Police Chief Lee Violet stipulates

“The violent crimes are down across the nation which is reflected in San Mateo County and Skyline College.”

Also a possible reason is the relatively low student traffic in community colleges. Compared to large state colleges or universities there is an equivalently lower crime rate.

Supervisor of Campus Security, James Hendren has a very extensive track record in security services before Skyline College. Originally a bomb specialist for the US Army, Hendren became the head of the Pinkerton Security agency for the San Francisco department. Hendren said he takes each job with equal significance

“If crime rates weren’t as low as they are here, I would retire” Hendren said with a chuckle.

Skyline wasn’t always as safe as it is today

Apparently there were a large number of violent and theft related crimes.

To shape up the crime situation at Skyline, Hendren implemented a number of new policies and strategies. Oneof Hendren’s strategies includes knowing which areas certain groups of trouble causing students hang out and monitoring those areas more thoroughly than others.