After a 35-year career in law enforcement, Costa Mesa’s current police chief, Ron Lawrence, has announced his retirement in a city press release. The announcement states that Chief Lawrence will stay on until the end of June of this year.

Chief Lawrence has been a cornerstone of City Hall for several years now and, as far as I know, he deserves all the praise he receives in the release and that he will receive in the weeks to come. It’s a big loss for the city, especially given how much the CMPD has been through in the last five-to-ten years. I wish him the best and I’m very grateful for his service.

But, turning to the practicalities, obviously this means that City Hall is going to have to move very quickly to identify and hire a new Police Chief. Interestingly, Chief Lawrence mentions in the release that one of his motivations for stepping back was to “allow future leaders to push the organization to even greater heights.” Does that signal an interest in having the next chief be appointed through an internal promotion?

If so, I would think all eyes would be on Deputy Chief Joyce LaPointe. Remember that she was recently elevated to Deputy Chief two years ago when the CMPD created the position, seemingly for her specifically. In hindsight, perhaps that was a bit of prescient succession planning by Chief Lawrence.

We’ll stay tuned as this process unfolds.