Chief Jarrod Burguan has announced his retirement from the San Bernardino Police Department after 27 years of service. Chief Jarrod Burguan has been with the San Bernardino Police Department since January 1992 and has been serving as the City's police chief since December 2013. He is the 35th Police Chief in the history of the San Bernardino Police Department.
He was born and remains living in Southern California. Chief Burguan has earned a Bachelor's Degree and a Master’s Degree in Management from the University of Redlands, he is a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police (Police Executive Research Forum - Boston University, 2012) and POST Command College (Class 53), he also holds a POST Management Certificate.
As a police officer, he served the City of San Bernardino in a number of different assignments including Patrol, Community Policing, Bicycle Enforcement, Traffic, and Field Training Officer.
In 2002, he was promoted to Detective and worked in the Robbery and Traffic Unit. He was there until 2005 when he was promoted to Sergeant. From there, he supervised teams in the Patrol and Traffic units. Then came another promotion in 2009 as he rose to the rank of Lieutenant and served the department as, District Commander, Investigations Bureau Commander, Patrol Watch Commander and Public Information Officer. Following this position for two more years he received his promotion to Captain and then again in 2013 to Assistance Chief of Police.
At the end of 2013 he was appointed Interim Police Chief by Mayor Patrick Morris.
His career got the spotlight on it when the horrific events of the December 2nd 2015 mass shooting happened in San Bernardino. Chief Burguan, along with 300 officers responded to the call that day. The attackers killed 14 people and wounded 22. While it was one of the only mass shootings where the shooter(s) got away, it wasn’t for very long. Within hours, members of the San Bernardino Police Department located the attackers and engaged the attackers in a gun battle that wounded two officers and killed both suspects.
Through the leadership and collaboration of all officers that day the shooters were caught. The Chief was recognized for his leadership during this incident and for his ability to keep the information and communicate with the public by holding many press conferences that were associated with the investigation.
The City of San Bernardino had this to say about Chief Burguan and his time with the Police Department, “Throughout his career, Chief Burguan worked in, supervised or managed every division within the department. His broad range of experience allowed him to become a knowledgeable and effective leader. Chief Burguan was a source of strength for the department and community throughout his career which included the terrorist attack on the Inland Regional Center in 2015 and the North Park Elementary School Shooting in 2017. Chief Burguan was able to effectively communicate with the national audience and bring the local community together. The City of San Bernardino and its residents would like to thank Chief Jarrod Burguan for his years of service and dedication to the profession.”