Local Latina police chief gets national recognition
Magda Fernandez is only the second woman, and the first Latina, to be sworn in as chief of the San Diego Harbor Police. She also is recognized as the first Latina police chief in the county.
Now she is on the cover of a national magazine — another first for the chief of the 140-officer force that polices the airport, harbor and port district territory in the cities of Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City and San Diego.
She is pictured with a San Diego skyline backdrop on the cover of the February-March issue of the Navy League’s Seapower magazine, which, through print and digital copies, reaches nearly 30,000 subscribers here and abroad.
The editor of the magazine, Ann Tropea, grew up in Olivenhain and attended Orange Glen High School in Escondido, although she now lives in Maryland with her husband and family.
“I don’t know that we’ve ever featured the chief of Harbor Police or almost any woman on the cover in the history of the magazine,” the new editor said of the 122-year-old publication. Tropea added that it was doubly impactful because March is National Women’s History Month.
Every year the monthly magazine produces a combined two-month issue featuring five or six service profiles.
“I’ve gotten so much amazing feedback,” Tropea said, noting that Capt. Dru DiMattia, a master mariner and president of the American Merchant Marine Veterans association, asked for 50 copies to share at the group’s national convention next week.
In response to demand, she has posted a separate link to the Fernandez article online at: seapowermagazine.org/profiles-inservice-chief-magda-fernandez/
Fernandez was sworn in last May after joining the Harbor Police force as a rookie cop in 2001. However, she was named acting chief in February 2022, so she has been at the helm for more than a year.
Her graveyard shift
But he also said he was disappointed that top aides to Mayor Todd Gloria did not provide more details to the council about why other sites were rejected. He said the city should be better prepared going forward.
“It’s essential we are ready to pounce when opportunities present themselves to expand safe options,” he said.
Elo-Rivera cited a recent announcement from Gov.
Gavin Newsom that 150 tiny homes would be made available to San Diego to help relieve homelessness. He made part of the approval Monday contingent on getting a fuller briefing from the mayor’s staff before the end of next month.
One of the city’s 20 trailers is scheduled to be used for office and meeting space by Jewish Family Service, the nonprofit operator of the 24-hour safe-parking lot that is expected to open within a week or so.
But for weeks the city has declined to say where the seven leftover trailers have been stored since they were acquired in early 2020, or when or where they might be placed into service for help curtailing homelessness and the spread of COVID-19.
Other cities and counties that received trailers under the Project Roomkey program were able to put the equipment to use within months, the UnionTribune reported in January.