An old hand becomes new police chief

Daniel Mulholland, 33-year veteran of the department, to take helm starting Tuesday

Redwood City’s new police chief is a familiar face in the department.

Daniel Mulholland, who’s been with the Redwood City Police Department since 1985 when he started out as a civilian community service officer at the age of 19, will take the reins from interim police chief Gary Kirby starting Tuesday. He has been with the police department longer than anyone else, according to the city.

Kirby has overseen the department since December, when former police chief JR Gamez stepped down after six years because of a medical condition. Kirby will return to The pilot was the only person in the plane when the engine failed. his role as deputy chief.

City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz said in an announcement that Mulholland’s wide range of experience over 33 years puts him in good stead to “maintain a high level of community trust among our diverse community.”

Mulholland said he will focus on keeping the department stable as it navigates “some rapids” in the upcoming 2018-19 budgeting process. Some positions may remain vacant as the city deals with increasing pension costs, he noted.

As a result, he said, “lowerlevel offenses” such as graffiti vandalism may have to be reported online or without an officer on scene.

“We’ve got some rapids,” he said. “We know that we’ve got some fiscal challenges ahead. … When you have a budget that is 77 percent personnelrelated, you have to look at” cutting.

Mulholland said he plans to continue Gamez’s focus on community engagement. The city instituted programs such as coffee with cops, adopt-aschool, English and Spanish citizens academies and homeless outreach while Gamez was chief and attributes a significant reduction in violent and property crimes to them.

“I appreciate how vital it is to have a very strong bridge between the police department and the community we serve because it is a partnership,” Mulholland said, adding he can carry conversations with Spanish-speakers.

Mulholland said he is looking forward to having officers work more closely with youths, possibly through a two-week teen police academy in summers to “get them familiar with officers in uniform in a positive way.” He said members of the cadet program at Sequoia High School could even lead the academy.

“This would be a great way to be transparent and invite (teens) into our community,” he said. “We can get them interested like I was interested when I was growing up.”

Mulholland, 52, has held various leadership positions including patrol sergeant, traffic sergeant, administrative sergeant, investigative sergeant, SWAT team leader, SWAT commander, team leader of the countywide terrorist counter-assault team, detective sergeant, captain

of the patrol division and, most recently, head of the administrative services division. He has also served as acting chief at various times when the police chief was unavailable, acted as

fiscal manager of the department’s operating budget and managed the department’s recruitment and hiring processes.

“I have a lifelong connection with the community and consider Redwood City to be my home, and the men and women of the police department to be my second family,” he said.

Mulholland, whose current annual pay is $235,800, will receive a $252,576 salary in his new role, according to Redwood City spokeswoman Meghan Horrigan. Gamez was earning $260,064 when he retired.