LA MESA : LAPD Veteran Named Police Chief

The director of the Los Angeles Police Department’s drug education program has been named La Mesa police chief, City Manager David N. Wear announced.

Walter W. Mitchell, a 26-year Los Angeles police veteran, will assume his new job June 15. He replaces Chief Bob Soto, who retired Friday after 23 years with the La Mesa Police Department. Capt. John Oleksow is acting chief.

Mitchell was assistant commanding officer of LAPD’s Bureau of Special Investigation and ran the department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. He also helped train DARE officers in 11 Western states and spoke internationally, including in Russia, about the DARE program.

Before that, Mitchell had been a commander in the LAPD’s Devonshire Division, overseeing more than 200 employees, Wear said. The La Mesa department has 82 employees.