http://www.ocregister.com/articles/maggard-680595-department-irvine.html

Irvine’s fourth police chief, during whose tenure the city was identified as among the safest in the nation for a decade, will retire by fall.

Within two months, Chief David Maggard Jr. plans to hand over control of the department to Deputy Chief Mike Hamel, a 20-year veteran of the department.

“This has been my dream job,” said Maggard, 53, after making the announcement, emphasizing his gratitude for his time as leader of the community’s law enforcement team.

Maggard, who was hired in 2002, served for a year as deputy chief before he was promoted.

During his tenure, the city recorded the lowest rate of violent crime among cities with more than 100,000 population, based on statistics collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, earning it the title of the nation’s safest city for 10 years in a row.

Even so, the city has seen its share of tragedies during his time as chief.

In 2003, a former Albertsons employee killed two co-workers and wounded three others with a Samuri-style sword inside the Irvine grocery store where he had worked.

Maggard said he still remembers standing with employees as they reopened the store following the shocking deaths.

Providing emotional support to those affected by crimes has been an effort of the department under his time as chief as much as tracking down wrongdoers.

Hiring officers with a dedication to the community that extends beyond crime-fighting has been key to the department’s success in maintaining and deepening connections with residents, Maggard said.

He has increased the department’s community outreach efforts, spending time with Irvine’s many diverse communities.

The Rev. Mark Whitlock, senior minister and pastor at Christ Our Redeemer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Irvine, recently lauded Maggard for sending officers to the historically African-American church following a gunman’s rampage at an AME church in South Carolina.

Maggard passed the credit for that move along to an Irvine sergeant, who took the initiative to show the congregation the department’s devotion to its safety.

City officials last week announced the department’s second-in-command, Hamel, 45, as Maggard’s successor.

As the senior chief in Orange County and one of the senior-most in the state, Maggard said the time seemed ripe for transition.

With the department in good condition, it’s the “perfect time to pass the baton,” he said.

Maggard and his family, including a son, 16, and daughter, 13, live in Irvine, where they plan to stay after he retires. Maggard will finish getting his doctorate in education at Pepperdine University.

Of the transition, during which Hamel will shadow him, he said: “It’ll go fast, but it will be full.”

It was an internship during college that introduced Hamel to the Irvine police.

While an undergraduate at UC Irvine, his time in the department’s crime analysis unit and as a community service officer at the university sparked his interest in a career in law enforcement.

However, when he graduated in 1992, Irvine wasn’t hiring. Hamel worked at the Los Angeles Police Department until 1995, when he returned to Irvine.

Since he began working at the department, the face of Irvine has changed. So have the faces of the officers, Hamel said.

As the police force has grown to keep pace with the city’s expanding population, which recently topped 250,000, it also broadened its gender and racial diversity, Hamel said.

“We can’t leave anyone out,” he said, referring to the city’s many cultural and faith-based communities.

Ensuring officers understand the department’s mission to be the place to which residents turn when they need help will mean continuing to hire officers who understand that their primary role is as a public servant, he said.

Continuing that culture established under Maggard conveys a “great sense of responsibility,” he said. “I’m ready for that.”