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A career Berkeley cop will become the city’s next police chief. 

Doug Hambleton, 51, currently the BPD patrol captain, has been selected to replace outgoing chief Roy Meisner. 

If the City Council approves the hire as expected on Monday, Hambleton, who began his career with the BPD 29 years ago, would become chief next Friday. 

“Doug knows the community, he has the respect of the officers and he has a good sense of the things we need to do now,” said City Manager Phil Kamlarz.  

Kamlarz picked Hambleton out of a field of six finalists that included two of Hambleton’s fellow BPD captains, Stephanie Fleming and Bobby Miller. 

Hambleton, who was born in Berkeley and raised in Pleasant Hill, has a bachelor’s degree in social welfare from UC Berkeley and a master’s in management from Cal State Pomona. 

Since joining Berkeley’s force in 1976, Hambleton has served in nearly every police division, and worked as project manager for construction of the Tsukamoto Public Safety Building and the department’s community-involved policing project. 

“I’m real buoyed that the city manager has the confidence in me and I’m anticipating the challenge of the job,” Hambleton said. He added that outgoing chief Roy Meisner had left the department in good shape for him. 

Meisner, who like Hambleton was a career Berkeley cop, announced his retirement after two and a half years as chief. His short tenure as chief bolstered his annual retirement pension, adding to the city’s already heavy pension burden. 

Hambleton said he gave Kamlarz a five-year oral commitment and insisted he had no plans to be a caretaker chief. “My feeling is if you take over a job like this, you need to stay long enough to get some things done,” he said. 

Asked about his top priorities, Hambleton said he wanted to continue working on the city’s community policing effort, improve the department’s crime analysis capabilities and upgrade its means of sharing information with the public. 

The BPD has a reputation for being tight-lipped about its work compared to neighboring forces. While Hambleton said the department is often prohibited from sharing information, he said the BPD was exploring ways to disseminate more information on its website and alert residents of nearby criminal activity.  

The department’s community policing effort has come under fire from members of the South Berkeley Crime Prevention Council, who have asked that the department consistently deploy the same officers to specific beats and improve communication between the department and community groups. 

Hambleton, who declined to delve into specifics, said he thought Berkeley community policing model was sound, but agreed there was room for improvement. 

Hambleton enters the top job during tough budget times when the department faces the loss of seven vacant positions. 

“There will probably be some things we won’t be able to do, but we can still do a good job with basic services,” Hambleton said. Budget constraints, Hambleton added, could make it difficult to hire a full-time crime analyst, a high department priority. Currently the BPD employs a retired officer part time to analyze crime trends. 

To improve the department’s ability to analyze crime and dispense data to residents better, Hambleton is banking on the city’s buying a new computerized dispatch system, estimated to cost more than $2.5 million. 

Hambleton’s ascension to the police department’s top job was largely cheered by local police watchers.  

“I think he’ll be excellent,” said David Ritchie of the Police Review Commission. “Doug has always been very willing to understand the concerns of all of Berkeley and is willing to work with everyone.” 

Trudy Washburn, a member of the Berkeley Safe Neighborhood Committee, complimented Hambleton as someone who communicates well with residents. “He has a very even manner,” said Washburn, who recalled Hambleton’s work during the KPFA strike in 1999. “He was out there very calmly keeping things under control.” 

Michael Diehl, a homeless activist, however, said he had some reservations about the appointment. “He seems to say the right things and then do something else,” said Diehl. He charged that Hambleton had backed out of agreements with homeless activists not to arrest people in homeless encampments. 

Hambleton’s appointment came as a surprise to some who thought Berkeley-native BPD Capt. Stephanie Fleming had the inside track to becoming the next chief. 

“Maybe Stephanie hasn’t been captain long enough,” mused Nikki Williams of Berkeley Youth Alternatives. “She’ll be a fabulous chief when it’s her time.” 

Hambleton takes over a relatively young department that saw many of its veteran officers retire several years ago when the city negotiated a more lucrative retirement package. 

Although Hambleton is now twice the age of some of Berkeley’s youngest officers, he can still keep up with them on his bicycle. Hambleton is a regular participant in the BPD’s annual Turkey Ride for charity. The ride take some of the BPD’s fittest officers on their bikes to the Sierras to raise money to feed the less fortunate on Thanksgiving. 

Hambleton said he planned to follow the lead of one of his predecessors, former chief Ronald Nelson, who didn’t miss a Turkey ride. 

“That’s not something I plan to give up,” he said. 

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