Irvine Police Chief Tells the Force He’ll Retire

Calling his nine years at the Police Department the highlight of his career, Irvine’s top cop on Thursday announced to his rank and file that he will step down as chief next summer after nearly four decades in law enforcement.

Charles S. Brobeck, 60, said he will retire so he and his wife can travel around the country. The city will probably begin a nationwide hunt for a replacement early next year, he said.

Brobeck succeeded the city’s first police chief, Leo E. Peart, in 1991 and almost immediately faced one crisis after another.

Just months after he took the helm, the department was rocked by a sexual harassment scandal when five female employees filed complaints alleging discrimination. Brobeck won praise in some quarters for quickly asking federal investigators to review the claims.

Less than two years later, Brobeck had to smooth over tense relations with the department’s police officers union when stalled salary negotiations and low morale sparked complaints about a lack of leadership at the agency.

“The first three or four years were very exciting, but . . . that’s part of being a police chief today,” he said in an interview Thursday.

At the same time, Brobeck presided over a massive expansion of the Police Department, increasing the number of sworn officers by roughly half--to 159. And he and the agency won kudos in 1994 when Money magazine ranked Irvine the safest large city in the U.S.

Brobeck cited among his favorite accomplishments an innovative program he launched requiring officers over 40 to undergo extensive cardiovascular exams every two years. The policy, he said, has helped detect health problems in four officers in only the last few weeks.

“As an officer years ago and as a command officer later,” he said, “I saw people die--young officers who died in their sleep sometimes or of heart attacks, and I think it could have been caught.”