Steve Gesell, outgoing SLO police chief, says he's moving to Arizona

Correction: An earlier version of this story should have said that Steve Gesell met Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio while Gesell was division commander with the Scottsdale Police Department in Arizona.

Outgoing San Luis Obispo police Chief Steve Gesell says he plans to move to Arizona in the coming months after pulling out in the final stages of the hiring process for chief of the Chico Police Department.

On Thursday, Gesell, 49, who grew up in San Luis Obispo County, said he is making the move back to the state where he spent the majority of his career with the Scottsdale Police Department.

Gesell, hired in San Luis Obispo in 2012, was placed on administrative leave May 8. On May 21, city officials announced they would pay him a lump sum severance of $120,000.

Friday, May 29, will be his last day with the city.

According to an assistant at the Chico city manager’s office, that city is in the final interview stages of its police chief search. Chico officials would not confirm that employees were in San Luis Obispo last week and declined to comment further, but Gesell said he is aware that representatives of the police department there visited San Luis Obispo to speak to locals as part of the selection process, though they never met with him.

Gesell said he voluntarily pulled out of the running after considering that a police chief’s job security is especially volatile and the public scrutiny he’s experienced could follow him to Chico. He declined to be specific.

“(The decision) was after a lot of introspection and thought over what this move would mean for my family. I didn’t want to risk putting my family through what we were put through in the last six months,” Gesell said. “If it played out that way up there, it wouldn’t play out well for anybody, including the city and the city manager, whom I respect.”

He added: “My instincts told me this was not a good move for anyone.”

Gesell said that not only does he have a network of professional contacts in Maricopa County, but most of his family is there as well.

“That’s what I walked away from (by returning to San Luis Obispo County),” he said. “I believe that this was the path that I was intended to take.”

Gesell said he is in the early stages of considering a run against controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whom he said he met several times while division commander of Scottsdale, which is in the eastern part of the county.

Though he said he has much research to do and wants to confer with colleagues in both California and Arizona, Gesell said he understands the needs of that county.

“Joe’s a very colorful character, no doubt about that,” Gesell said. “There’s a groundswell of public sentiment that they want a change there in who leads their Sheriff’s Department, and I think that time will be in November 2016.”

Asked about his tenure in San Luis Obispo, Gesell said he is proud of the department’s accomplishments in tackling issues related to homelessness and mental illness, including the department’s Community Action Team — officers assigned in 2013 to monitor and offer resources for the most chronic low-level offenders — which he said has saved lives.

“Those two officers have developed a reputation on their own and sort of turned into rock stars, loved in every corner of the community,” Gesell said. “(They go) far beyond the traditional law enforcement role.”

He also noted his creation of the Chief’s Roundtable, a group of community members, to improve relations with the public as well as a “metamorphosis” in relations with Cal Poly administration. The Police Department’s website now provides additional resources for public transparency and information, and the department recently revamped its annual crime report to reflect issues such as use of force and internal investigations.

Gesell, who hired about a quarter of the department’s current staff, also said he’s leaving behind a department of quality officers, good morale and a historically positive relationship with the Peace Officers Association, the union that represents nonmanagement sworn officers.

“I leave a very healthy organization, and that’s very satisfying for me,” he said.

However, he said he’s disappointed he will not be around to implement the department’s new strategic plan, a draft of which was completed earlier this month.

“The most important part of a strategic plan is the execution,” he said.

Despite the positives, Gesell has attracted criticism.

Earlier this year, Gesell came under scrutiny for the large amount of work-related travel he undertook in 2014. He was later asked to repay the city $146 for what he said were charges compensated in error.

He provoked controversy in December when he wrote an opinion piece published in The Tribune regarding the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, in Ferguson, Mo.

Most recently, some community members questioned police response to an early-morning “St. Fratty’s Day” party in March that was attended by several thousand Cal Poly students and ended with a roof collapse injuring at least eight people.

Gesell admitted his department was caught off guard, though it was later revealed through university emails that Cal Poly administrators were warned of the party beforehand and misinformed local police.

The city has not disclosed the reasons behind Gesell’s separation, citing personnel confidentiality laws, but in a prepared statement following the settlement agreement, San Luis Obispo City Manager Katie Lichtig said: “To reach peak performance, the city manager and police chief need to be in complete alignment.”

Gesell would not disclose the reasons either, other than to say that he seconds Lichtig.

“The city manager and police chief share equally precarious positions, and it creates an interesting dynamic that can certainly lead to different outcomes,” he said. “There has to be a united team and mutual support, and without that it’s not good for anyone and certainly not the community that they serve.”

Still, Gesell said he is grateful for having had the opportunity to serve the city.

“I’ve always consistently held the public’s interests above all else, including my own livelihood,” he said.

Gesell said he plans to move in about two months. He said he has not yet sought a job in Arizona but wants to evaluate his options and concentrate on his family in the near future.

This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 10:45 AM with the headline "Steve Gesell, outgoing SLO police chief, says he's moving to Arizona."