Corona Police Department Gets New Commander for Division

A Los Angeles police lieutenant who is about to retire will take command of the Corona Police Department’s administrative division, filling a captain’s post that has been vacant for nearly a year, Chief John Cleghorn announced Tuesday.

Rodell (Rod) Fick, 43, replaces Capt. James Valle, who was granted a disability retirement in December after taking seven months’ medical leave for stress, City Safety Officer Tim Bowers said.

The new captain’s duties will include supervising records, communications, personnel, training, crime prevention and animal control, Cleghorn said. He will receive a salary of $47,820 annually, according to Personnel Director Bob Cruz.

Fick, a 21-year veteran of the LAPD, lives in Anaheim Hills with his wife and two daughters, Cleghorn said, adding: “His goals . . . (are) a promotion and to be closer to home.”

25 Candidates

Fick competed with 25 candidates for the captain’s post and finished first among nine finalists, Cleghorn said. He is expected to retire from the Los Angeles police force on April 25 and begin working in Corona three days later.

Twenty-one years ago, the Watts riot was one of Fick’s first assignments with the Los Angeles Police Department. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Navy, serving in the Western Pacific during the Vietnam War, Fick returned to the Los Angeles Police Department.

He became a detective in 1972, a sergeant the same year and a lieutenant in 1976. Fick now serves in the inspection and control section, in the office of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

A Los Angeles native, Fick graduated from Lynwood High School in 1961. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California. He expects to receive a law degree this June from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Cleghorn, himself a retiree from the LAPD, did not work directly with Fick in Los Angeles, he said, “but I did have an acquaintance with him.”