People On Campus for December 2001
First Monday
People On Campus
People On Campus is published in FirstMonday by the Public Affairs and Publications offices at SFSU. 415/338-1665. pubcom@sfsu.edu


People On Campus

Todd Iriyama: Keeping watch over the campus

After graduating from University of the Pacific with a psychology degree, Todd Iriyama focused his career options down to two: enlist in the Air Force and take to the skies or enroll in the Police Academy and stay close to the streets.

When his tight knit, extended family heard his options, they scolded him, asking him why he couldn’t practice law or become a dentist like his brother and cousins.

Iriyama listened to their advice and then made his own decision.

“I knew I would rather have a career in public service,”said Iriyama, now a corporal and a six-year veteran of SFSU’s Department of Public Safety. “This is a fun job and there are a variety of calls I go out on. I’m the type of person who can’t be holed up at the computer. I want to be out there helping people.”

Iriyama’s shifts are busier in these post-Sept. 11 days. Iriyama and his partner Tobijo, the police department’s bomb-sniffing golden retriever, have been checking the thousands of pieces of mail delivered to SFSU each day. Under Iriyama’s guidance and training, Tobijo puts his sensitive nose to the test and checks for explosives such as dynamite, ammonia nitrates and chlorates. His well-trained and powerful olfactory glands pick up scent molecules from up to a mile away. So far nothing suspicious has been found.

An animal lover who lived with dogs and cats while growing up in Oakland, Iriyama, 28, stepped forward when the department purchased a bomb-sniffing dog back in 1997. He eagerly agreed to be the dog’s trainer and 24-hour care provider.

The police department brought Tobijo onto its 20-member force as a way to check buildings quickly after repeated bogus bomb threats during mid-terms and final exams, disrupted classes with forced evacuations. In addition, the police department was looking for an added layer of protection after discovering that convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski used SFSU as a return address on a package that killed a New York advertising agency executive in 1994.

SFSU remains the only California State University campus with an explosives detection dog and Tobijo is frequently loaned to other universities to sweep an area before a visiting dignitary arrives.

Iriyama and Tobijo (the pair is known as “T&T”around the department) went through six weeks of extensive training at a canine facility in Napa. Every two weeks Tobijo brushes up on his bomb-sniffing detection skills.

If an explosive were found, the 7-year-old dog would sniff it out and then sit down, signaling to Iriyama a problem with the package or the area. His good work is rewarded not with food or a treat, but with a rolled-up towel that he uses to play tug-of-war with Iriyama. Tobi exercises regularly with daily walks and eats only dog food to maintain his muscular 68 pounds.

Iriyama is with Tobi all hours of the day, caring for the dog at his home and feeding, bathing and watching over his feisty, four-legged partner.

“We even sleep in the same room,”Iriyama said laughing. “Tobi is always at my side.”

Aside from his canine duties, Iriyama also coordinates the Campus Alliance for a Risk-free Environment (C.A.R.E.) program in which officers escort students and faculty and staff members to parking lots, residence halls and public streets where their cars may be parked.

“Todd is an excellent employee,”SFSU Chief Kim Wible said. “He’s committed and he’s a well-rounded officer with a bright future.”

When he’s not on patrol, Iriyama heads to Ocean Beach - a short distance from his San Francisco home - where he surfs. He’s also an avid skier and snowboarder. And while Tobijo is his partner and main priority at work, the canine shares the house with Iriyama’s other dog Copper, a Labrador retriever. The two animals get along just fine.

Every now and then, Iriyama thinks about flying and where he might be had he chosen that career but he’s glad his feet are solidly on the ground.

And Iriyama’s family has forgiven him for not heeding their suggestions to go to law school or medical school. But he may have started a trend. A cousin now works for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department.

“I guess I was the first to blaze the trail,”he said.

- Christina Holmes

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