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Urban counts on community relationships to keep Hayward moving in the right direction. She uses the example of a rash of burglaries from a couple years back, which included a rumor that the police were somehow involved. Rather than stay silent, Urban proactively held community meetings and gathered support from key city stakeholders. “You always have to have your relationships in place,” she says. “There should be no Ferguson. Something is going to happen in every community. You should be able to pick up the phone to your faith-based organizations, to your community-based mechanisms, to your day-labor centers, to your local NAACP.

“I can describe my community in one sentence: They are my best force multiplier. They are my eyes and they are my ears. If I have community trust, even with people who have a mistrust for police … if those people are working with you and if those people are reporting crimes because they are not afraid about deportation … then we’ve got it made. And those relationships are firmly embedded here.”

It’s a lesson that she’s committed to passing down to her staff. “I like the community here and that’s why from the top down we should model good customer service. We’re a customer service company, if you will, and a lot of cops don’t like that. But my organization is very comfortable with it,” Urban says. “There is so much surprise in what we do that there shouldn’t be any surprise in how we do business,” she adds. “We should always be excellent, and we should always be accountable for our actions.”

PIONEERING THE WAY

Without a doubt, these chiefs have their work cut out for them — and they have many things in common: meeting the demands of their cities with limited resources, an emphasis on community relationships, and leveraging technology to expand the reach of their departments. But they are also not alone. All throughout the area, ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ alumni represent a growing network of leaders, who are changing the landscape of law enforcement, and working with citizens to improve their communities. 

Richard Lucia (MS Counseling ’91) serves as the undersheriff for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO). With a jurisdiction that stretches from Albany to south of Fremont and east of Livermore, the demand and breadth of services offered by ACSO is incredibly high — ranging from full-coverage patrol and investigative services of unincorporated and contracted areas, to marine patrol and fish and game enforcement, to operating a police academy. Lucia counts his time at CSUEB as invaluable for the insight his educational psychology classes gave him into people from different walks of life. “The men and women I went to school with came from a variety of backgrounds,” he says. “Being able to share in those discussions and listening to them was extremely valuable. Many of the students were not law-enforcement professionals, so these interactions provided me with a good balance today.” An avid runner, Lucia, who lives near the university, runs around the campus almost every day. “It’s like home to me,” he says. 

Paul Rolleri (BS ’85) was selected as interim police chief of Alameda in June 2013 and was permanently named to the position in November 2013. Alameda, a charter city (governed by its own charter document rather than general law of the government), houses a high-density population of more than 75,000 in about 10 square miles of land. Alameda is also a comparatively safe area of the East Bay, with crime rates well under the national average². Rolleri, a native, intends to keep it that way. He joined the Alameda Police Department in 1992 and has worked in patrol, field training, investigations, youth services, and the violent crimes unit. “My experiences at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ opened my eyes to the details of the criminal justice system. It’s not just about arresting people,” he says. “It’s also about building relationships and achieving outcomes that have a positive impact in the community.” 

Leading the police department in Moraga is Chief Robert Priebe (MPA ’92). Moraga is arguably one of the sleepier towns in in the Bay Area, nestled into a small valley of hills, and home to St. Mary’s College of California. The population comes in at just over 16,000 with similar square mileage to that of Alameda; the town is home to pricey housing and crime averages are desirably low³. Priebe joined the Moraga Police Department in 1979, and was named interim chief in 2008 before being permanently promoted in 2009. “The most important thing I learned at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ is how to be a change agent,” he said. “I deal with constant change; in law enforcement policies and procedures, in personnel, in society, in technology, in the law, and in our community. Nothing is static. A successful organization needs to be adaptable in order to provide the best possible customer service. You have to embrace change to do your job well.”

Police Chief Walter Tibbet (MS Counseling ’01) heads up the Fairfield Police Department, which means looking after a city of unusual shape and size — extending just east of Travis Air Force Base all the way west of I-680 and south toward Vallejo. Fairfield struggles with more crime than neighbors like Vacaville, Benicia, and Napa, and does have issues with violent crimes, most notably involving firearms; however, theft, auto theft, and burglary are more prevalent⁴. Tibbet has been around the Bay Area long enough to meet the challenge: He spent 26 years at the San Jose Police Department, ending his term as a captain before accepting a chief of police post at Alameda in 2006. Tibbet began his current role in Fairfield in 2010. He has many memories of his time at CSUEB, and explains both the on-campus and classroom experiences were important in their own right. “The student body brought together a group of people from widely diverse backgrounds,” he says. “The opportunity to share our various experiences in the campus setting provided an enriched learning environment.” 

Daniel J. DeSmidt (MPA ’06) was named chief of police of Belmont in July 2012. Belmont is sandwiched between San Mateo and San Carlos to the north and south, with Foster City to the west and hills to the east. The population of Belmont was nearly 27,000 in 2013, and, like the surrounding cities, Belmont is home to a high number of tech-industry professionals — nearly 25 percent. Belmont has historically enjoyed a low crime rate, especially in terms of violent crime⁵. As a Belmont native, DeSmidt has been with the department for more than 25 years and is a veteran of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s SWAT team. “ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ helped me realize how to create a learning organization,” he says. “We need to be able to adjust to any situation. Day by day, variables change. Situations change. The crime rate goes up, or it goes down. My job as a leader is to prepare my organization to adapt to any and all of these challenges.”

Adele Frese (BS ’92) was named police chief of Greenfield (30 miles south of Salinas) in March 2014, after 20 years with the Corpus Christi, Texas, Police Department. The small agricultural town is a part of Monterey County, and has an estimated population of about 25,000, with more than 90-percent Hispanic residents. Like many ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ students, Frese is a first-generation college graduate. “Growing up in the East Bay and seeing the university sitting up on top of the Hayward hills, the campus sort of became a symbol of what I knew I wanted to achieve,” she says. But it isn’t just her coursework in criminal justice that has had a profound impact on her career: “I was fortunate to have taken a course in Women and Literature from Dr. Eileen Barrett. I never imagined the knowledge I gleaned from her class would be put to use later in my public safety career when I became an integral part of the recruiting, hiring, and training process of police officers. What I learned from her course, coupled with the guidance she and other professors offered, inspired me to attend graduate school and direct my research in women in policing. I’m proud to have attended CSUEB.” 

Allan Cantando (BS ’91; MPA ’94) is police chief of Antioch, one of the oldest towns in California (est. 1872). Crime in Antioch soars above national averages and that of surrounding cities⁶. However, complete statistics for 2013 showed improvement in several areas over 2012, including aggravated assault, burglary, and theft. Cantando says his time at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ was essential, as his professors were contemporary about what was occurring in the field and taught with a great deal of credibility. Today, Cantando believes that being transparent with the community is critical. He holds quarterly community meetings that allow residents to participate in Q&A sessions. “We used to have just what we call ‘true believers’ attend,” Cantando says. “But now, we have a mixture, which includes critics, too. That’s good, because we want people to be open and honest with the police department, and let us know what they think about our services.”

THE ROAD AHEAD

Even with its challenges, it’s a dynamic time to be a leader in the Bay Area — economic upswing, business growth, new opportunities in education, and even public scrutiny are all part of creating forward movement. These law-enforcement leaders may be at the helm of change, but they are leveraging community dialogue, technology, and their exposure to diverse learning opportunities at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ to steer the course. Chief Urban of Hayward helped put the sheer number of CSUEB graduates that are holding high-profile positions into perspective: “How many people make chief? Less than 1 percent of 1 percent. And to have so many alumni all come from one university? I think it speaks volumes when it comes to the current quality there and what’s been in place for decades.”

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2. National crime average comparisons taken from www.city-data.com.^2,3,4,5,6