UC San Francisco Police Department

UCSF hired Pamela Roskowski from the Corvallis, Oregon Police Department, where she had served as chief for approximately 12 years (c. 1990–2003). Prior to her hiring by UCSF, the following documented events had occurred at her prior agency:

April 2002 — No-Confidence Vote: At a union meeting held in April 2002, 94% of officers present voted "no confidence" in Chief Roskowski's leadership at the Corvallis Police Department. Documented allegations associated with the no-confidence proceedings included: expenditure of funds on consultants whose recommendations were not implemented; a $500,000 records management system project reported as a failure; increased rates of stress-related illness and turnover among officers; and short-staffed patrol operations. A prior no-confidence vote had also been considered in April 1995.

2001 — Oregon DOJ Investigation: Separate from the no-confidence proceedings, a 2001 allegation was made that Roskowski had ordered officers to dismiss a minor-in-possession citation issued to a 20-year-old individual who was the child of a personal acquaintance. The Oregon Department of Justice investigated this allegation and found no criminal wrongdoing.

UCSF Hiring Process: At the time of her UCSF hiring, the UCSF Police Officers Association president, Scott Andalon, attempted to block the appointment. Andalon wrote to UCSF Associate Vice Chancellor Randy Lopez that "several serious issues regarding Pam Roskowski's tenure at the Corvallis Police Department have been brought to my attention." Associate Vice Chancellor Lopez responded that Roskowski was "clearly a consensus first choice" of the search process.

2003 — Defamation Lawsuit: Following her departure from Corvallis, Roskowski filed a $6 million defamation lawsuit against the Corvallis Police Officers Association and Teamsters Local 223 (Roskowski v. Corvallis POA, filed 2003). The United States District Court dismissed the lawsuit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal in 2007 under the Communications Decency Act (CDA), 47 U.S.C. §230.

In 2008, the UCSF Police Department achieved accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). UCSF PD became, and remains, the only UC police department to have ever attained CALEA accreditation. CALEA requires agencies to demonstrate compliance with more than 480 professional law enforcement standards. The UCSF PD subsequently achieved CALEA's Advanced Level accreditation. CALEA accreditation is renewed through a rigorous re-assessment process every four years. UCSF PD is one of approximately 60 university police forces worldwide to hold CALEA recognition.

No other UC campus police department has pursued CALEA accreditation. As of January 22, 2025, the UC Board of Regents C4 document additionally records UCSF PD as holding IACLEA accreditation — making UCSF PD the only UC police department to hold both CALEA and IACLEA accreditation simultaneously.

On October 22, 2009, UCSF Police Detective Rex Veloro was killed in an automobile accident in the line of duty. Detective Veloro had joined the UCSF Police Department as a police officer in October 2002, following two years of service with the San Francisco County Sheriff's Office. He had been designated the 2008 UCSF Police Department Employee of the Year.

In July 2004, Detective Veloro received the UC Police Department Meritorious Service Medal for, in the department's documentation, "exercising exceptional judgment, restraint, and professionalism while apprehending a subject armed with a knife."

UCSF Police Dispatcher John Dragon was critically injured in the same accident and was admitted to San Francisco General Hospital in critical condition.

Chief Roskowski issued a public statement: "Officer Veloro was an outstanding, well-respected member of the UCSF Police Department. This is a tragic loss for us as a department and as professional colleagues and friends."

This event is the only documented line-of-duty death in the entire history of the University of California police system across all ten campuses.

Following the UC Davis pepper spray incident of November 18, 2011, and the UC Berkeley Occupy Cal incident of November 2011, the UC system undertook a system-wide review and reform of use-of-force and civil disobedience response policies. Chief Roskowski was serving at this time as the UC System-wide Police Services Coordinator — a role in which she oversaw coordination, development, and implementation of public safety planning and policy across all ten UC campuses.

In her capacity as System-wide Coordinator — a role she held for six years — Roskowski was instrumental in developing and implementing the revised system-wide Use of Force policy and the Civil Disobedience Response policy adopted by the UC system in the aftermath of the 2011 incidents. These policies applied to all ten UC police departments. This coordination role placed a UCSF-based chief at the center of the UC-wide reform process.

In March 2024, UCSF's cancer center was defaced with antisemitic language that invoked the Holocaust. This incident was subsequently cited by the United States House Energy and Commerce Committee in its July 2024 investigation correspondence as evidence of an antisemitic environment at UCSF facilities. It was referenced alongside other documented incidents in the committee's seven-page letter to UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood.

Whether this incident was investigated by UCSF PD as a potential violation of Penal Code §422.6 (hate crime), reported by UCSF PD to the California Department of Justice as a hate crime, classified as a Clery Act hate crime in UCSF's Annual Security Report, or referred to the San Francisco Police Department for investigation is not documented in available public records.

During the spring 2024 nationwide campus encampment movement, a Gaza solidarity encampment was established in front of the UCSF medical center. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, in its July 2024 investigation letter, described the encampment as causing "significant disruption to campus and health care operations, as well as great distress for members of the community, including health care professionals and patients." Jewish healthcare professionals at UCSF expressed safety concerns, including fears that private information would be made public.

The specific arrest count and use-of-force details for UCSF's encampment response were not separately documented in available public sources. The September 12, 2025 LAist investigation — which examined all ten UC campus police departments' compliance with Assembly Bill 48 (AB 48) — specifically noted: "UC Merced and UCSF, to date, have not reported any use of less-lethal weapons."

Whether crowd-control weapons were deployed during UCSF's encampment response, and whether AB 48 reporting was therefore required and not filed, is not conclusively established in available public records. UCSF PD is not listed on the California Department of Justice's AB 48 reporting webpage as of September 12, 2025.

Of additional note: UCSF's encampment occurred at an active medical center. The hospital security mandates applicable to UCSF PD — specifically Health & Safety Code §§1257.7–1257.8 and Cal/OSHA §3342 — impose security and violence-prevention obligations at medical facilities that are not present at other UC campuses. Whether these obligations affected the UCSF PD's encampment response is not documented in available public records.

July 31, 2024 — Investigation Opened: The House Energy and Commerce Committee opened a formal investigation into antisemitic harassment and intimidation at UCSF and UCSF Health medical centers. A seven-page investigative letter was sent to UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, signed by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Health Subcommittee Chair Brett Guthrie, and Oversight Subcommittee Chair Morgan Griffith.

The committee letter cited the following specific documented incidents and conditions at UCSF: (1) A Gaza solidarity encampment at the UCSF medical center causing disruption to health care operations; (2) safety concerns expressed by Jewish healthcare professionals at UCSF, including fears that private information would be made public; (3) numerous antisemitic public statements by faculty, staff, and students at UCSF; (4) public statements claiming that patients should fear being treated by Jewish doctors; (5) the March 2024 defacement of the UCSF cancer center with antisemitic language invoking the Holocaust; (6) hundreds of complaints filed with UCSF's Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD), with most complainants allegedly told the reported conduct was protected speech; and (7) UCSF assigning a counselor who had allegedly posted antisemitic remarks to support Jewish faculty who had reported antisemitism to the university.

The committee warned that federal funding — including Department of Health and Human Services grants and Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements — could be withheld if UCSF failed to address the documented conditions.

August 21, 2025 — Follow-Up Congressional Letter — UCSF PD Documents Specifically Requested: The House Education and Workforce Committee sent a follow-up letter to UCSF requesting documents by September 8, 2025. The document production request specifically included materials in the possession of the UCSF Police Department. This request placed UCSF PD under an active federal document production obligation.

Investigation Scope Expansion: The congressional investigation was subsequently expanded to include the Gladstone Institutes, a UCSF-affiliated research organization. By April 2025, the Paul Weiss law firm, retained in connection with the investigation, reportedly recommended the termination of a UCSF professor for conduct connected to the antisemitism investigation.

UCSF PD Direct Involvement: The federal investigation directly implicates UCSF PD in four documented respects: (1) The encampment at the UCSF medical center occurred within UCSF PD's primary patrol jurisdiction; (2) the August 2025 document production request specifically named the UCSF Police Department; (3) the physical security of Jewish healthcare workers at UCSF's medical facilities is a UCSF PD operational responsibility; and (4) the March 2024 cancer center defacement is a potential hate crime investigation within UCSF PD's investigative jurisdiction under Penal Code §422.6.