Pasadena Commander is New Police Chief of Northern California City

 

[Updated April 22 | 6:51 a.m.]  A Latina commander with the Pasadena Police Department has been chosen to become the new chief of the San Pablo Police in northern California, and will assume her new command beginning next week.

Pasadena Police Commander Lisa Rosales, who has served the city for 27 years, will be San Pablo’s first woman and first Latina head of police. She will replace retiring San Pablo police Chief Walt Schuld.

“We’re ecstatic,” Pasadena Chief of Police Phillip Sanchez said of the appointment. “We’re very pleased and proud of Lisa’s accomplishments.  I think that she is virtually the sum total of all her experiences here at the Pasadena Police Department that frankly positioned her very well for leadership of in San Pablo.”

Rosales was offered the position last March 28 after a selection process that concluded with a public interview process.

“I’m very excited, obviously with the emotions of leaving Pasadena which is my home for 27 years,” Rosales said. “However, San Pablo really feels like it’s a great, warm community. They’ve been really welcoming.”

“I really enjoyed a great partnership with the Pasadena community,” Rosario said. “I also believe that the employees of the Pasadena Police Department are among the top employees that I ever worked with.”

Rosales will be leading more than 50 police officers, 19 full-time civilian employees and other staff of the San Pablo Police.

During her service with the Pasadena Police, Rosales saw duty as a patrol officer, undercover officer purchasing narcotics, prostitute decoy, search warrant entry team member, Hispanic gang officer and school resource officer, and has served as different divisions such as Community Services, Detectives, Internal Affairs, Training Unit and Professional Standards.

“With the great opportunity that I’ve had in Pasadena, I feel as though that it has definitely prepared me for making a shift to this new position,” Rosales said.

Pasadena Police Lt. Tracey Ibarra described Rosario as a “smart, exceptional woman” and said that the San Pablo Police will be “fortunate to have her” as their leader.

“One thing that makes her qualified is that the level of performance here in Pasadena makes our employees, especially our command staff, exceptionally qualified and well-prepared to be police chief somewhere else,” Ibarra said.

Rosales was born and raised in Los Angeles. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts at the University of San Diego and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of La Verne. She has graduated at POST Command College in 2007 and was the recipient of the Hank E. Koehn award as the most inspirational student of her class.

Rosales was also awarded Pasadena Police Department Chief’s Special Award for Excellence in 2001 and 2009, as well as Pasadena-Foothill Valley YWCA’s Women of Excellence Award in 2003.

She serves as the chair for California Peace Officers Association Region X and a committee member for California’s Women Leaders in Law Enforcement annual training symposium.