Controversial former SLO police chief fired from Arizona job
A former San Luis Obispo police chief who was accused of overusing public funds for travel was fired from his job leading the Cottonwood Police Department in Arizona.
Steve Gesell worked in San Luis Obispo County for six years, serving as a commander for the Atascadero Police Department from 2009 through 2012 and then San Luis Obispo police chief from 2012 through 2015.
Gesell left the San Luis Obispo Police Department following several controversies that ended with him being placed on administrative leave. He was paid a $120,000 severance settlement.
Within six months of leaving San Luis Obispo, Gesell landed the police chief job in Cottonwood, a small city about an hour and a half north of Phoenix.
According to the Arizona Republic, Gesell was placed on administrative leave in May while “certain internal matters are being addressed.”
Gesell’s employment with the department was terminated Sept. 14 following an independent investigation, according to a news release from the city of Cottonwood.
“City of Cottonwood staff are held to a high standard of accountability, ethics, trustworthiness, service to the community and respectful treatment of their co-workers,” the release said. “It is the city manager’s responsibility to ensure that all violations of employment policies and/or procedures are diligently examines, and if substantiated, to take appropriate and necessary action.”
Cottonwood city manager Scotty Douglass did not confirm the reason behind Gesell’s termination by Wednesday evening.
Fired police chief has controversial history in San Luis Obispo
Gesell was subject to several controversies during his three-year tenure as San Luis Obispo police chief, namely in 2014.
Residents found an opinion piece written by Gesell published in The Tribune in December 2014 about the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, and 18-year-old Black man, in Ferguson, Missouri, to be “biased, condescending and out of touch,” according to Tribune reporting from the time.
Community members also questioned the police response to an early-morning “St. Fratty’s Day” party attended by several thousand Cal Poly students in March 2014 where a roof collapsed and injured at least eight people. Gesell said his department was “caught off guard” that morning and had only five officers on duty, with officer shifts rearranged to prepare for parties that evening, based on “loose information” from university police.
Gesell’s work travel also came under scrutiny in 2014, a Tribune investigation found, with Gesell attending three times as many conferences, meetings and workshops as any other police chief in the county.
The trips prompted city officials to draft changes to their travel policy to include more oversight. The 2006 travel policy allowed department heads or their staff to approve their own travel expenses. City officials also determined that Gesell owed the city $146 for personal spending incorrectly included on receipts he submitted for reimbursement.
Gesell was placed on administrative leave from his position in San Luis Obispo in May 2015. According to a press release, he and the city decided to part ways later that month because of “fundamental differences about the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the police chief that interfered with their ability to effectively communicate and serve the city at the highest level.”
Gesell received a $120,000 payout and agreed to not take legal action against the City of San Luis Obispo as a result of the separation.
He was hired as Cottonwood police chief in January 2016.
Cottonwood city manager Douglass did not respond to questions regarding whether Cottonwood was aware of Gesell’s history at the San Luis Obispo Police Department.
