SANTA ROSA (KRON) — Acting Police Chief Robert “Hank” Schreeder has been selected Santa Rosa’s new police chief, City Manager Sean McGlynn announced Monday afternoon.
Schreeder, 48, has 23 years of service on the Santa Rosa Police Department and has been acting police chief for 15 months. The former chief, Tom Schwedhelm, retired and is a member of the Santa Rosa City Council.
McGlynn said Schreeder was selected after an exhaustive four-month process that included a nationwide search and a public forum to fully assess the skills of the candidates.
Schreeder said he intends to hold public forums to better understand the community’s expectations of the police department and develop goals for the department.
“The forums will help me to understand ways to build trust and develop stronger bonds with neighborhoods,” Schreeder said.
Building trust will entail increasing transparency, developing a diverse organization whose employees reflect the community the department serves and providing new strategies that allow the public to better evaluate the department’s performance, the new chief said.
“Santa Rosa’s shared experiences over the past year has confirmed my belief in community oriented policing and partnerships to address complex problems we are working on now and into the future,” Schreeder said.
Schreeder has a Bachelor of Science degree in administration of justice from California State University, Long Beach and a Master of Arts in criminal justice from American Military University.
He was a leader in developing the Sonoma County Family Justice Center and the Chop’s Teen Club.