Reflecting on the 2025 Safety Conference at UC Merced
The 2025 UC Merced Safety Conference brought together nearly 300 professionals from higher education, K–12 education, public safety, emergency management, healthcare, behavioral health, government, and private industry for two days of collaboration, learning, and professional development. Hosted by the UC Merced Police Department – Emergency Management, the conference continued its mission of strengthening campus safety through education, innovation, and partnership.
The 2025 Safety Conference Provided a Platform For
Collaboration Across Disciplines
Bringing together professionals from colleges and universities, K–12 schools, public safety agencies, behavioral health organizations, emergency management, healthcare, and government to strengthen partnerships and improve coordinated preparedness.
Emerging Threats and Best Practices
Providing attendees with current research, case studies, and practical tools to address today's most pressing safety challenges, including targeted violence prevention, artificial intelligence, cyber-enabled crime, human trafficking, behavioral intervention, and crisis communications.
Leadership and Resilience
Empowering leaders to improve organizational preparedness through lessons learned, innovative approaches, and real-world experiences from nationally recognized subject matter experts.
Networking and Information Sharing
Creating opportunities for attendees to connect with peers, exhibitors, and presenters while building relationships that extend beyond the conference through networking events and collaborative discussions.
Featured Keynote Speaker
Garrett Therolf
Senior Reporter & Contributing Editor
UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program
Garrett Therolf delivered a compelling keynote drawing from his investigative reporting and his work as lead reporter and producer for Netflix's acclaimed documentary The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. His presentation challenged attendees to examine the systems surrounding vulnerable children and emphasized the importance of accountability, communication, and multidisciplinary collaboration in preventing tragedy.
Conference Highlights
- Nearly 300 attendees
- Two-day educational conference
- 15+ nationally recognized speakers
- Five breakout session tracks
- Networking reception: Safety After Hours
- Interactive campus engineering tour
- Exhibitor Showcase
- Professionals representing higher education, K–12 education, law enforcement, emergency management, behavioral health, healthcare, cybersecurity, and government agencies.
Featured Topics
Attendees selected from more than twenty educational sessions covering today's most relevant safety and preparedness topics, including:
- Behavioral Threat Assessment and Targeted Violence Prevention
- Active Violence Prevention and U.S. Secret Service Case Studies
- Artificial Intelligence and Campus Safety
- AI and Cyber-Enabled Fraud
- Crisis Communications and Media Relations
- Clery Act Compliance and the Stop Campus Hazing Act
- Human Trafficking Awareness
- Online Child Exploitation Investigations
- Campus Behavioral Intervention Teams (BIT)
- School Mental Health and Disaster Recovery
- Animal-Assisted Therapy and Crisis Response
- School Vulnerability Assessments
- Campus Infrastructure and Engineering
- Child Fatality Investigations
- Emergency Preparedness Leadership and Resilience
Participating Agencies
The conference featured presenters and subject matter experts representing organizations including:
- University of California Merced
- University of California Berkeley
- ABC30
- American Medical Response (AMR)
- Central California Intelligence Center (CCIC)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- U.S. Secret Service – National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC)
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
- Los Angeles Police Department
- Paradise Unified School District
- Critical Arc
- MM Psychology & Solutions
