Crime & Safety
Captain Denton Carlson Named New San Ramon Police Chief
Captain Carlson has served a number of leadership roles at the San Ramon Police Department since joining in 2007.
SAN RAMON, CA — Captain Denton Carlson has been named the next Chief of Police for San Ramon following an extensive nationwide search, the city announced Thursday. He will take over for Craig Stevens, who retired in March after serving two years. Stevens has been serving as interim chief since then.
Carlson, who is currently a captain with the San Ramon Police Department, has served with the San Ramon Police Department since it formed in 2007. Before that, he served five years as a contract police officer for the city through the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff. In 2015, he began developing the department’s Community Resource and Crime Prevention Division, and implementing the department’s social media and public safety emergency communications strategies.
In 2017, Carlson was promoted to captain and assigned as Operations Bureau Commander, where he was responsible for overseeing the department’s uniformed Patrol, Traffic and Youth Services Divisions. He also served as the department’s public information officer, commander of the Multi-Agency Central County SWAT Team, and the department’s liaison to the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.
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Carlson has also served as director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management for the past seven years.
In 2016, he was named Employee of the Year by the San Ramon Chamber of Commerce. He also received the Dorothy Harris Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence from the California Peace Officer Standards and Training Command College. He holds a masters in emergency services administration from California State Long Beach, and teaches at the masters program in law enforcement and public safety leadership at the University of San Diego.
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“Denton has been serving this community for 20 years, and has helped shape several key aspects of the Department,” San Ramon Mayor David Hudson said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have him as our next Chief of Police.”
Carlson will be sworn in at the San Ramon City Council meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at San Ramon City Hall.
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