Department Veteran to Be Burbank Police Chief
A 20-year department veteran, Capt. Thomas Hoefel, has been selected to head the Burbank Police Department starting Jan. 3, City Manager Robert R. “Bud” Ovrom announced.
Hoefel currently heads the department’s investigations division, which is responsible for handling robberies, homicides and other serious crimes. He will succeed Chief David Newsham, who is scheduled to retire Dec. 30.
Newsham is stepping down after a decade commanding the 165-member force.
“This is not a department that is in need of major changes,” Hoefel said. “Chief Newsham is leaving a department that’s filled with quality employees who have a track record of service to the community.”
During Newsham’s tenure this city of 102,000 was considered a safe city that became safer. Since 1990, violent crimes in Burbank has dropped by 21%, according to the FBI’s crime index.
Hoefel earned a law degree from Whittier College Law School, a master’s degree in management from Cal Poly Pomona and a master’s in public administration from Cal State Northridge.
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