Countywide : Sheriff Promotes Latino to Top Post

Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Rodriguez has been promoted to a department commander and will take control of the department’s Support Services Division starting next Sunday.

Rodriguez, 48, a 26-year department veteran and lifelong county resident, is the first Latino to become a department commander in the past 20 years, Sheriff Larry Carpenter said in a prepared release.

The eight department commanders are outranked only by two assistant sheriffs and Carpenter.

“It’s the end of a long road. I never thought I’d be in this position 10 years ago,” Rodriguez said Wednesday. “It’s like climbing a ladder. You just look at the next rung and you get used to that. You don’t look at the top.”

In his new position, Rodriguez will be directly responsible for recruitment, hiring, internal affairs and officer training. He will also serve as the department’s affirmative action officer.

He said he was committed to furthering the ethnic diversity of the department.

“We’ll be pushing to try to balance the department demographics with the community that we represent,” Rodriguez said.

“We’re hindered to a large effect by the economics we’re facing.”

Rodriguez’s prior assignments include patrol, custody, major crimes investigation, youth services, narcotics investigation supervisor, personnel, planning and research, patrol watch commander and Moorpark chief of police.

He holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of La Verne.