Updated 7:18 p.m., April 7–
Sentinel staff report– Assistant Police Chief Gina Anderson, who has been with the Citrus Heights Police Department since its inception in 2006, officially stepped into her new role as Police Chief for the City of Newark, California, on April 6.
Citrus Heights Police Chief Ronald Lawrence first publicly announced the news in a tweet last Saturday, offering his congratulations and thanks to Anderson, who has served as assistant chief since the office was created in 2018.
“I am extremely proud of Chief Anderson and her accomplishments,” Lawrence said in an email to The Sentinel last week. “She has served the City of Citrus Heights in an exemplary manner, and has implemented many outstanding programs that will be her legacy.”
Anderson began her career in law enforcement in 1993 as a police officer with the City of Davis and was hired in 2006 as one of the original lieutenants of the new police department in Citrus Heights. She was promoted to police commander in 2013 and oversaw both the Patrol Services Division and the Investigative Services Division before becoming assistant chief in 2018.
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Lawrence said the office of Assistant Police Chief was created to assist him in managing the local department while he served a term as president of the California Police Chiefs Association (Cal Chiefs), which began in 2019.
Noting that his term as president of Cal Chiefs is expected to conclude later this month, Lawrence said he will “probably not” fill Anderson’s position, but will instead re-instate another police lieutenant position that had been eliminated when the assistant chief position was created.
Lawrence said Anderson’s departure is the latest example of the Citrus Heights Police Department developing leaders in law enforcement “who continue to contribute to our profession, even if promoting to command level positions in police departments outside of our city.”
Most recently, Police Lieutenant Dave Gutierrez left the department last year to serve as a captain with the newly formed Menifee Police Department, a city in Southern California that looked to Citrus Heights as a model in launching their own police force. Lieutenant Ryan Kinnan also left the department in 2018 after being selected as Police Chief in Auburn.
Lawrence said the past police chief of Menlo Park and the current chief of Walnut Creek also came from Citrus Heights, as well as two captains in Oceanside and Buena Park.
