UCLA offers safety trainings for Bruin community

The UCLA Office of Campus and Community Safety has launched a central hub where students, faculty and staff can sign up their offices and departments for safety trainings from the UCLA Police Department and the Office of Emergency Management.

"Preparedness starts with education, communication and giving people the tools they need to make informed decisions," said Steve Lurie, associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety.

Current training opportunities include courses on how to respond to an active assailant, safety preparedness and emergency preparedness. The trainings - free for all UCLA students, faculty and staff - last approximately one hour and are offered in person, virtually and in hybrid format.

• Active assailant training: Bruins will learn about rapid decision-making, evacuation strategies and barricade techniques for situations on campus.
• Safety preparedness: This course teaches situational awareness and habits that can prevent incidents before they happen, and instructs trainees on how to use campus safety systems like BruinALERT and the Bruins Safe app.
• Emergency preparedness: Trainees will get a primer on earthquakes, wildfires, power outages, and emergency protocol and planning - as well as their role in UCLA's emergency response.

A safe campus: Responding to the community

Late in 2025, following Chancellor Julio Frenk's example, the OCCS team conducted several listening exercises to learn more from members of the community about what a safe UCLA means to them. Among the most common requests was an easier and faster way to access safety trainings and resources.

In response to that feedback, the new OCCS centralized approach consolidates training offerings from the UCPD and Office of Emergency Management into one streamlined request process.

"This program directly responds to what our campus community asked us to build," Lurie said. "Students, faculty and staff wanted a clear, accessible way to connect with campus safety and preparedness training resources, and we took action to make that happen."

Since the program launched in early April, approximately 500 members of the UCLA community have participated in trainings, with many more expected.

"We built a single front door for safety education - one request, one process, one team coordinating the response," said Richard Mejia, director of emergency communications and information for OCCS.

The OCCS plans to expand the training program in collaboration with additional campus partners and subject matter experts, with offerings reassessed on a continuing basis.

"This is an important first step," Lurie said, "but it's only the beginning of how we envision preparedness and safety education at UCLA."