Pasadena Officer Picked to Head Chula Vista Police

Rick Emerson admits the first time he heard about the chief of police job in Chula Vista, his reaction went something like:

Chula who?

On Friday, however, the 41-year-old Pasadena police commander began a crash course on the streets of the South Bay city after being chosen for the Police Department’s top post.

He replaces William Winters, who retired last month after 26 years on the force.

Emerson, who was initially one of 55 applicants for the job, said that he heard about the opening from an employment recruiter.

“I wasn’t looking for work,” he said. “I wasn’t really sure where Chula Vista was. I mean, I figured it was in San Diego County because I’d been there on vacation.”

Six months after an unsuccessful campaign to take over the police chief’s reins in Pasadena--where he has worked for 22 years--the married father of one college-aged son said he’s ready for his new challenge in a city that isn’t that different from the one he’s leaving.

With a population of 135,000 living within 35 square miles, Chula Vista is not a far cry from Pasadena--26 square miles with a population of 134,000, he said.

“What I’m hearing is that Chula Vista is a nice little bedroom community that’s grown quite rapidly in the last five years,” he said. “There’s graffiti here and there, but we don’t want gangs to get any full-fledged foothold here.”

Chula Vista City Manager John D. Goss said Emerson was chosen from three final candidates--one the police chief of Los Gatos, Calif., the other an assistant chief with the San Diego Police Department.

“We think he’s the cream of the crop,” Goss said of Emerson. “He established a neighborhood crime task force there and from what we hear he handled problems in a human fashion. He put a human face on police work.”

Emerson also established a police department youth adviser program, a cultural appreciation program known as “The Pasadena Way,” as well as a multiracial citizen advisory board and a canine drug detection unit.

Goss said officials were impressed by the fact that Emerson was a “rising star” within the Pasadena department, making the rank of sergeant at 25 before moving up to lieutenant at 29 and commander at 35.

“But we were most impressed by the fact that he was used to dealing with the kinds of issues we have here in Chula Vista,” Goss said, “including gangs and drugs and diversity issues.”

Emerson, who will assume his new job Jan. 13, will earn $100,000, a raise from his $87,000 policeman’s salary in Pasadena. He will head 152 officers, some of whom said they had heard nothing but good things.

“I can’t wait to meet him,” one dispatcher said.

For now, Emerson is hitting the streets of Chula Vista. But he’s not looking for crime just yet. He’s in search of a house.

“Right now I’m looking for a house, big time,” he said. “It’s either that or start sleeping in the front seat of my car.”