When he first entered the police academy, the officer in charge asked, “Anyone ever tell you that you are the blonde haired blue-eyed punk of America?”
He answered, “No sir.”
Later on in his law enforcement career, he learned this was a test of response and reaction.
Campus Police Chief David Main walked leisurely into San Joaquin Delta College’s evening Introduction to Mass Communication class wearing his police uniform, showcasing four bright gold stars, his glasses hanging from his pocket, his police badge hanging out and his black leather belt shinning as if it was just polished.
Main is the new police chief at Delta, beginning his tenure as the campus top cop earlier this year.
Main was born and raised in San Francisco, and is a big fan of the San Francisco Giants.
In his early teenage years Main moved to Truckee, where his love for law enforcement bloomed.
When Main was 14 years old, he joined a police cadet program.
He said it was then he knew that being a police officer was, “what I wanted to do and nothing else would do.”
After high school, Main attended Delta College where he earned his associate’s degree.
He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in business at Saint Mary’s College and his master’s degree at Chapman University.
Main worked his way up the ladder throughout his years as a police officer.
In 1985, he was but a young detective covering stories and working on cases.
In the early 1990s, however, he was promoted to lieutenant. From there he worked his way up even higher until he became chief of the Lodi Police Department.
Main had also retired from the Lodi Police Department not too long ago to spend more time with his family.
At the beginning of this semester, Main decided to return to law enforcement and become the police chief at Delta.
He learned about the job when he came to Delta to watch the police academy, where he was intrigued by the close-knit community.
As a police officer, Main enjoys coming to work everyday.
When questioned about what he enjoys about being a police officer he replied, “the career is different and challenging, and he likes being out and about.”
Though Main may have an interesting and entertaining background, he also had interesting cases to work on as a police officer.
As a young detective in 1985, Main was assigned a case about an abandoned baby at a funeral home in Lodi.
The media had been trying extremely hard to get the information from him, but the police captain did not want just any officer talking to the media, for fear of misinformation being given.
Main, however, went ahead and told the media the story, landing him in trouble when the paper was published. Later as a new police chief by the name of Larry Hansen came into his position, relations with the media improved vastly.
At the end of his presentation, Main also addressed the Jeanne Clery Law, requiring campus police to publish alerts and crimes in emails to all students in order to protect the students and to help them be aware of their surroundings.
He also noted that the campus police take pride in the safety of the campus and he wanted to create a media video blog on the police website.
He also gave advice to night students, to keep safe one must be aware of their surroundings, be with others, and make use of the police escort service.
“If something does not feel right rely on your gut,” said main.
