The UC Davis Police Department has recruited three protective service officers, or PSOs, for the California National Primate Research Center at the western edge of the campus.

The officers began providing security and checking IDs at the gate in early January. Another three such security officers are being recruited, and they will be equipped with a vehicle to patrol the 300-acre site around the clock.

The protective service officers are part of an ongoing process to improve security at the center, said Lt. Nader Oweis of the UC Davis Police Department. Other security upgrades in recent years include new fences, lighting, cameras and alarms, and a training manual and video on safety for researchers. The security measures were financed jointly by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by UC Davis.

"It's an ongoing strategy the university is undertaking to make sure that researchers are safe, animals are safe and the value of research is maintained," Oweis said.

The PSOs are trained by the police department in crime prevention, access control, customer service and tactical communications, and may get some further external training in due course, Oweis said.

The UC Davis primate center is one of eight national primate research centers sponsored by the National Center for Research Resources, a division of the NIH, to provide specialized research resources for studies into health problems including AIDS, autism, asthma, Alzheimer's disease, aging and developmental biology.