Ontario hires police chief from L.A. area. He’s the first Latino to hold the job.

The city of Ontario did a nationwide search to find a new police chief, and last week it announced the new hire: Steven Romero, who has 30 years of experience working in and around Los Angeles.

Romero, who is Mexican-American and bilingual, will be the city’s first Latino police chief, City Manager Adam Brown told the Statesman.

“It’s been his lifelong dream to be a chief,” Brown said. “Plus, it’s advantageous for him, with his California pension, to leave and continue his career.”

Ontario, Oregon, sits on the state line with Idaho and is a diverse city of about 11,000. It’s 53 percent white, 43 percent Hispanic or Latino, and 2 percent Asian, according to Census estimates.

Just seven people applied for the chief’s job, which pays $97,865. None of the applicants came from Oregon or Idaho.

“All of our applicants were from big cities — New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles,” Brown said. “We did kind of expect that we’d be attractive to somebody in Idaho who was ready to retire. They’d have their Idaho pension and might want to come over here and work.”

The prior police chief, Cal Kunz, relocated back to Utah in January to be closer to his wife, who works for the Utah Highway Patrol, Brown said.

City officials interviewed four of the seven applicants for the chief position via video — and one “stood out head and shoulders above the others,” Brown said.

They invited Romero, a lieutenant in the Hawthorne Police Department near Los Angeles, for an in-person interview. Romero holds a bachelor’s in criminal justice and a master’s in public administration from California State University Fullerton.

His 30-year career in law enforcement included four years in the Los Angeles Police Department and 26 years in Hawthorne.

Romero was watch commander for more than 90 officers and civilian personnel in Hawthorne. In Ontario, he’ll manage 24 officers and three civilian employees (two full time, one part time).

Two of the city’s biggest crime problems are gangs and narcotics, and those are issues that Romero has confronted in the L.A. area. Recreational marijuana is legal in California, and Ontario has just lifted its ban on marijuana sales. The first of a dozen dispensaries in Ontario are expected to open in the late spring or early summer.

“We were looking for someone who had been through that,” Brown said. “We don’t know what to expect. We’re learning as we go.”

Romero will start work in Ontario at the end of May or in early June.

This story was originally published April 8, 2019 at 12:44 PM.