Santa Rosa police chief Ray Navarro announces retirement

Santa Rosa Police Chief Rainer Navarro, after 30 years with the department, will retire effective May 2, the city announced Thursday evening.

Navarro, who was promoted to captain in 2015 and then named chief in 2019, has spent his entire law enforcement career with the Santa Rosa Police Department. The 52-year-old, who goes by “Ray,” is the city’s first Latino chief and the third consecutive chief to be chosen from within the department.

He told The Press Democrat his retirement is mostly motivated by his desire to spend time with his family, including two grandsons who are under the age of 3.

Given the city and police department are in good shape with strong leadership, Navarro said, there’s no better time to step aside and focus on his family.

“It’s been 30 years and the priorities with families have changed, so it seemed like the right time,” he said.

At the time of his promotion in 2019, he led a team of 182 officers. Today, his department has about 168 officers but are allotted 10 more.

Described as “a progressive and thoughtful leader,” Navarro is credited with leading his department through major “concurrent” emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Glass fire, which burned 67,484 acres and destroyed 1,555 structures.

The city also referenced his leadership during the instances of nationwide and local protests against police brutality following the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

“He has been steadfast and compassionate through some of the most tumultuous times for policing,” Santa Rosa City Manager Maraskeshia Smith said Thursday in a news release announcing Navarro’s retirement. “Chief Navarro has set the bar high in working with and engaging the community and has positioned the department to be more transparent and more accessible moving forward.”

Santa Rosa Police Capt. John Cregan will serve as interim chief until a permanent replacement is found, according to the city. The process is expected to last several months.

Navarro said it will ultimately be up to city leaders to hire a chief, but he believes Cregan will do a good job leading the department in the interim and is proud of the city’s history of hiring chiefs internally.

“I want what’s best for the city and for the department and we have done really well at developing staff,” he said. “And that’s always important to us and we never stopped, so I think we have a good track record of showing we are promoting the right people.”

Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Rogers applauded Navarro’s decades-long career, calling him a “steady hand” in times of hardship for the community. That includes his leadership during the 2017 fires, when he served as a captain, and more recently during the 2020 summer protests over police accountability and racial justice following Floyd’s death.

When met with criticism over reports of violence committed by his officers against protesters, Rogers said, Navarro not only took accountability for the department, but actively looked for remedies to make sure flaws in policy and in the actions of individual officers were corrected.

The city paid out at total of $2.3 million to demonstrators who were injured by officers in the city’s aggressive response to mostly peaceful protests.

At the onset of the local demonstrations, Navarro signed on to the “8 Can't Wait” police accountability campaign, which the department has met, Rogers said, adding that Navarro also banned carotid neck-holds within his department.

“I think it’s very difficult to be the chief of police and I think he’s the kindest person you will meet,” Rogers said. “He’s just such a good man and has been such a committed public servant.”

The mayor said Smith informed him earlier this month of Navarro’s intent to retire in May.

Navarro became a Santa Rosa police officer in 1992 and during his career has served as a gang crimes detective, violent crimes detective and field training officer.

He was promoted to field training sergeant and gang crimes sergeant before launching the department’s Gang Resistance Education and Training Program.

He was also a traffic and special events lieutenant, special services captain and field services captain.

Under Navarro’s watch, efforts to improve his department’s relationship with residents led to the formation of the Chief’s Community Ambassador Team, the city’s Community Empowerment Plan and restoration of the police auditor role.

According to the city, Navarro also helped create the Department Operations Center and Special Enforcement Team to address emergencies and violent crimes more quickly and efficiently.

Navarro is a native of Southern California, but after he joined the department he and his wife quickly decided Santa Rosa was where they wanted to be and it was unlikely he’d join any other police agency.

“We just felt like this was home. Once I got established here in the department, we were not going anywhere,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi