Los Alamitos : Veteran Sheriff’s Officer Named New Police Chief

Orange County Sheriff’s Capt. James D. Guess will begin work as the city’s new police chief on Dec. 16, taking over from Kelson McDaniel, who left in October to head the San Clemente Police Department.

Guess, 47, was selected from among 40 applicants and 10 finalists for the $48,288-a-year job. A 21-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, he currently serves as commander of the investigative division and has experience in several other fields, including personnel and training, operations and records.

The new chief said he looks forward to working in the small-town atmosphere of Los Alamitos, where the results of each case and the development of each officer can be easily monitored.

“I’ll miss the people here,” he said of the Sheriff’s Department, adding that he wouldn’t miss the high volume of cases and the mass of paper work involved with his current position.

“The thing that impresses me the most about Los Alamitos is the sense of community they have,” he said. “It’s a very clean department, so I’m not going there to clean up problems. They’ve had outstanding leadership, so I suppose the best thing I could do would be to keep that reputation up.”

Guess is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton, has a master’s degree from USC, holds a community college lifetime teaching credential and received the California Peace Officers Assn.’s Professionalism Award in 1984.