New Santa Maria police chief sworn in, ‘ready to make a difference and help people’ as department leader
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The City of Santa Maria's new police chief was sworn-in on Tuesday night, marking the official beginning a new era for city's police department.
"It's a bit overwhelming," said Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD) Chief Christopher Williams during a conversation with News Channel 3-12 Wednesday morning. "I'm very humbled and blessed to have the opportunity to serve the community in the capacity that I can as a leader. I just want to make a difference in my community and help out people."
Williams comes to Santa Maria after serving in a number of positions in the Oxnard Police Department, where he most recently was the Assistant Police Chief the past three years.
"What I really liked about the City of Santa Maria when I was doing research for the job position, I watched a couple of City Council meetings, and I was really impressed by how efficient and effective Mayor (Alice) Patino ran the council meetings, and how supportive the council was with the police department because it's important," said Williams. "Santa Maria reminds me of my hometown of Oxnard, and it's a growing, vibrant community, supportive of their law enforcement, and, I just got a hometown feel to the to the City of Santa Maria."
An Oxnard native, Williams now leads the largest city department in Santa Maria, one that includes 200 positions and an annual budget of $54 million.
"His background was exactly what I was looking for," said Santa Maria City Manager David Rowlands. "He has touched every function of the police department from the gang aspect of it, to homicide, and internal affairs. His personality really came through and his commitment to working with the community and being involved with the community from day one. That was really important to me and important to our City Council."
Coming from nearby Oxnard, a city located exactly 100 miles south of Santa Maria, and one with similar attributes, has made Williams already feel right at home.
"Santa Maria reminds me of my hometown of Oxnard," said Williams. "It's a growing, vibrant community, and supportive of their law enforcement. I just got a hometown feel to the City of Santa Maria. I tell people, I think Santa Maria is what Oxnard was about 15 years ago. There are a lot of similarities because of the agriculture and the demographics. The friendliness of the people and the culture that both cities embrace are very similar."
Williams is a big proponent of being involved in the community and believes in a philosophy of having "non-enforcement contacts" with the public.
"A lot of people don't have interactions with the police that often, and when they do, it's usually for a criminal matter, or they're getting, pulled over because they're speeding or whatnot," said Williams. "It may have a certain type of perception with them, but by having the non-enforcement contacts, it shows the human side of our officers because behind the the badge and the gear and the equipment, we're all humans, and we all have feelings and we all want to do well. Being able to show that side to specifically our youth, but our adult community as well is important."
