For someone who is supposed to be serving and protecting UCSD student interests, Community Service Officer Program Coordinator Peter Kim is doing a lousy job.

A university audit recently confirmed that Kim, who has been with the CSO program for eight years, was at fault for two serious offenses: breaching both California state law and university policy by failing to give CSOs proper meal breaks and on numerous occasions using on-duty CSOs to commit paid job time to drive him to local train stations using university-owned vehicles, which use university money for gas and maintenance. In addition, several former CSOs have said that his poor management abilities led to a massive officer exodus in recent months, lowering the typically 45-strong squad to about 15 individuals.

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Kim also denied that he committed any wrongdoings and refused to comment on the charges.

“There was an audit, but I was cleared of everything,” he said.

Kim’s boss — UCSD police Lt. David Rose — defended Kim’s statements, saying he did not “think [Kim] meant to say ‘nothing happened.’”

CSO program vehicles should be used to escort students who need help, not take away valuable time from on-duty CSOs. If Kim cannot understand that by taking CSO-chauffeured rides on university time, he hurts students by holding up escort opportunities, he is not fit to be leading a department responsible for ensuring student safety.

As an employee of the UCSD Police Department — which is supposedly responsible for holding high moral standards and upholding the law — Kim should be fired for his blatant long-term reckless negligence of university policy and mistreatment of CSOs. However, the fact that Kim was not reprimanded at all for his actions, even in the face of an official audit finding him at fault for repeated policy breaches, leads this board to question the department’s commitment to ethics and ability to safeguard student interests.