Orange Coast College safety chief readies for retirement after 32 years on campus
John Farmer didn’t set out for a career in law enforcement.
Nevertheless, the 63-year-old has spent more than half his life leading the campus safety department at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.
This summer, after 32 years at the helm, he’ll turn off his dispatch radio and embark on a new adventure: retirement.
“It’s something I got into and I really enjoyed it the whole time I’ve been here,” he said. “It’s been a great ride, actually.”
Farmer, who grew up in New Jersey and moved to Orange County in 1979, had a maintenance business he started when he was 18.
His campus safety career began in 1981 when a friend, a former police chief in New Jersey, invited him to help launch a security department at Chapman University.
At the time, Farmer’s wife, Patty, had opened a maternity clothing shop near the campus in Orange.
“Of course, I couldn’t really work in a maternity clothing store because people don’t really want to see a man when they go in to buy maternity clothing,” Farmer said. “So, I was trying to find something to do.”
At first he was reluctant about his friend’s security offer, noting he didn’t have much experience.
“He said: ‘There’s nothing to it. You put on a uniform and tell people what to do,’” Farmer said.
“I go, ‘Oh, I could do that,’” Farmer recalled.
After five years at Chapman, Farmer joined Orange Coast College in 1986 as chief of campus safety. At the time, the department consisted of three employees and a student assistant and relied heavily on help from Costa Mesa police officers to write tickets and keep an eye on the campus after hours.
Now, Farmer oversees about 50 employees in a 24-hour operation.
Farmer has expanded the department in other ways as well. Shortly after he arrived, he created the campus safety assistant program, which allows students to work for the safety office writing tickets, escorting classmates to their cars after night sessions and assisting outside emergency workers on the campus.
More than 500 students have passed through the program over the years, Farmer said, and many have pursued careers as police officers in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
For years, Farmer’s days have begun at 4:30 a.m. with a walk with his two poodles — Sabrina and Marina — a cup of coffee with his wife and a roughly 30-mile drive from his San Clemente home to the college, where he arrives by 6 a.m.
Though it will be hard to leave the campus he’s called a second home for so many years, he won’t miss the commute or the early wake-up, he said.
In his free time, he plans to log extra rounds of golf and volunteer at a no-kill animal shelter near his home.
“I might even sleep as late as 6 o’clock,” he said with a laugh.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
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