Our Department's History

In 1976, the Santa Ana Unified School District recognized district officers as Peace Officers under authority of 832.2 of the California Penal Code. In the late 1990’s, the District School Police Officers began to replace Santa Ana Police Officers who were assigned as School Police Officers at the high school campuses. James Miyashiro was hired as the District’s Chief of Police and he was given the authority to establish a School Police Department. Officers were provided with handguns, Police Officer badges and marked patrol vehicles. Today, the Santa Ana School Police Department is one of the nation’s model school police agencies with over 30 total sworn members.