Fullerton Police Chief Goehring Will Retire in December

Police Chief Phil Goehring has announced that he will retire in December, ending a three-decade career with the Police Department.

Goehring, 54, said he will miss the job and the people but feels that it is time for a change. He said he will open a law practice after a few months of vacation, during which he plans do yardwork, repairs, home improvements and perhaps take a cruise with his wife.

Goehring said he is proud of the department’s recent anti-narcotics campaigns, the creation of a minority affairs officer position, and the focus on community policing.

“We’ve developed a relationship with people that might not have been possible with traditional methods of policing,” he said.

Goehring is quick to share the credit for the changes. “I look back at all the things that have been done, and they’ve really been done by the people of this department, not the chief,” he said. “I have enjoyed the support and able assistance of many very capable people.”

A Missouri native, Goehring moved with his family to Southern California in 1948. He joined the department in 1961 and has worked patrol, narcotics, traffic, forgery and burglary investigation.

He was named police chief in 1987. Goehring studied law at Western State University College of Law, and passed the bar examination in 1976.

The city will begin looking next week for a new chief and will consider candidates from both within the department and outside, a city official said.