There is a new lieutenant in town — but for Ray Vuillemainroy, it is business as usual at the Isla Vista Foot Patrol station.

Vuillemainroy has replaced Brian Olmstead as the highest ranked member of the IVFP. Vuillemainroy has an extensive background in law enforcement, and spent eight years at the Southern San Francisco Police Station and 15 years with the Santa Barbara County Sherriff’s Dept.

During his early years as a cop with the SFPD, Vuillemainroy worked in conjunction with schools and local government to reduce gang violence.

“I grew up in southern San Francisco, but I worked in areas with lots of gangs,” he said. “It was a lower-middle class area with lots of gang problems and I had been around that my entire life.”

Vuillemainroy said he reached out to youth in the Bay Area to keep them off the streets.

“I developed an after-school program that helped keep kids out of gangs and in school so they could go to college,” Vuillemainroy said. “As much as I enjoy the prevention side of the job, I also enjoy the intervention part just as much.”

After transferring to Santa Maria, Vuillemainroy became involved in adopt-a-school programs. At one point, he proposed a bill to the White House that allowed easier transferring of information between school administrators and local law enforcement.

According to Vuillemainroy, he began considering a career in law enforcement at a young age.

“I got into law enforcement when I turned 18, right out of high school,” Vuillemainroy said. “I really did not know what I wanted to do. I had a neighbor who was a police officer and he told me it was a good profession and you can make a positive difference and help people.”

As a new member of the Foot Patrol station, Vuillemainroy said the first step is getting to know the community.

“It has been very busy and exciting, I have met a lot of great people both in the community and UCSB,” Vuillemainroy said.

Regarding his plans for law enforcement during the upcoming Halloween weekend, Vuillemainroy said he plans to abide by the same guidelines applied by Olmstead.

“We are going to continue doing the same as what we did last year,” he said. “Firm enforcement, basically zero tolerance and, hopefully, people understand there will be consequences for their actions.”

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