El Segundo Police Chief Mitch Tavera stays on duty
The ESPD command team: Sergeant Mike Gill, Captain Bob Turnbull, Lieutenant Jeff Leyman, Chief Mitch Tavera and Captaion Brian Efanski. Photo .
Police chief Mitch Tavera could easily have called it quits.
After a distinguished 31-year career in which he served in nearly every capacity on the El Segundo police force and rose to its command staff, Tavera could have safely stepped foot into civilian life and the comfortable retirement that three decades in law enforcement provides.
Instead, in 2010, Tavera walked into the midst of a perfect storm.
The El Segundo Police Department faced unprecedented budget cuts that would result in a reduction of its sworn staff from 71 to 57. At the same time, the city experienced an uptick in crime, largely attributable to the ongoing effects of a severe recession coupled with a statewide early release program the put more career criminals back on the streets.
Tavera stepped up. In early 2010, he was named the chief of the El Segundo Police Department, just in time to oversee the most severe force reductions in the department’s recent history. From a workload standpoint, the task was as simple as it was challenging: ESPD faced a heavier workload with vastly less resources to combat crime.
Many police officers count the days until they reach the 30 year benchmark in order to retire. But for Tavera, who has spent his entire 34-year law enforcement career with ESPD, the decision to continue wasn’t hard. He believes, in the deepest sense, in public service.
“This city has treated me well, this community has treated me well, and this department has treated me well,” he said. “This is an extended family, and it is my honor to serve the officers in this department.”
City manager Greg Carpenter said the city has a long tradition of promoting from within. Though the decision to promote Tavera to chief came before he’d became city manager, Carpenter said that it is easy to see why Tavera was the man for the job – he has the rare combination of being a true cop while also possessing sophisticated managerial skills, something increasingly valuable in an era in which a police chief also serves as a department head and budget manager.
Tavera, in fact, has even taken on additional responsibilities within city government, the city manager noted – when a budget cuts eliminated the assistant city manager position, Tavera and his staff took some of the responsibilities.
“The city’s technical services program is now a function of the police department,” Carpenter said. “That is something that is probably completely unique.”
But more than anything, Carpenter said, what Tavera brings to the table is a thorough knowledge and abiding love for the city and department he serves.
“He loves this city and loves his work,” Carpenter said. “He is very dedicated to his profession, and very dedicated to his people.”
Councilwoman Marie Fellhauer, who is also a sergeant for LAPD, said Tavera is a well respected by the larger law enforcement community.
“He is very much public servant in his heart. He is very humble,” Fellhauer said. “He’s a very accomplished man, both professionally and personally, but I’ve never heard him say anything about himself. I find everything out about him from other people – not only in El Segundo, but Los Angeles police folks hold him in very high regard. He’s very well respected – I know people very high up in LAPD and other larger organizations who speak highly of Chief Tavera.”
Tavera is a second-generation police officer. His father, Abram Tavera, is a WWII veteran of the Merchant Marines who served in some of the most dangerous areas of the Pacific theater – two of his brothers, in fact, died within a week during that war – and returned to serve in the LAPD. He later became a successful South Bay businessman.
His father’s example inspired Tavera to become a police cadet in El Segundo in 1978, while still a student at Long Beach State University, and join the force fulltime the following year.
“My father was a role model, and he continues to be to this day,” Tavera said. “I thought my father was a very noble man, a very hard working man, and during his time as a police officer he set a standard that made me think that is a hell of job that I want to do.”
Tavera is quick to define any success he has achieved professionally as a product of the ESPD’s culture, which has long stressed professional development and innovation.
“The great thing about El Segundo is we’ve had some very innovative commanders, chiefs, and personal here,” Tavera said. “I was assigned to a major narcotics task force, I got to work for the US Customs Service, and I got to work other outside assignments. I have been educated throughout the United States, from the FBI National Academy to the Harvard Senior management Institute for Police to West Point Leadership Institute. I’ve been able to earn a master’s degree. They really have been very proactive in broadening my perspective of how law enforcement fits in our community and how we fit in the broader law enforcement community. So this organization, while it’s been great to be here, they also look at making you grow to be a better person. And I think that is really indicative of the professionals in this organization.”
The ESPD culture is something Tavera has inherited and benefited from, but also something he aspires to keep building upon. Due largely to the stresses of the job – police, after all, are the men and women society sends into its darkest, most dangerous corners – police life expectancy is a dozen years lower than the U.S. average of 78 years. ESPD has a state-of-the-art workout facility, and Tavera himself is highly trained in the martial arts and teaches MMA fighters and boxers at Fitness Evolution in Redondo Beach.
“If we are fit, we are able to serve the public better, and we are able to serve ourselves and our families better,” Tavera said. “We promote fitness. We want our officers to look good in the uniform and look good inside. It’s important to be physically fit to do this job. It absolutely helps you. And you’ve got to be able to somewhat take your stress and use it, and get rid of it, on a daily basis.”
Fellhauer said that another thing Tavera brings to the table, as chief, is something often undervalued in police organizations and elsewhere – a sense of humor.
“It’s a very unique job that most people tend to forget what [officers] encounter not only day to day but moment to moment,” she said. “…I think it’s important that he sets a tone for his folks who work for him and report up though his chain of command so they understand that even though they do a serious job and when they are out in the field they are professionals, but when they come back to the station they can be real people. I think his sense of humor is fantastic. I’ve watched him interact with his officers, and he’s just top quality guy. He’s an outstanding leader.”
Carpenter praised another of Tavera’s gifts as a leader – the fine art of delegation, which isn’t something that always comes naturally in the highly regimented world of law enforcement. He noted that during Tuesday’s hostage standoff, for example, Tavera was on the scene and working in the background, allowing his press officers to handle the cameras rather than grandstanding in the wake of a successful police operation.
Tavera said that any story about the ESPD chief is really about the department itself.
“I like to put my department out front, not myself,” he said. I am very fortunate, and humble, to be where I am at, and I don’t like to beat my own chest. My department, when they do well, I do well. Obviously, when they don’t do well, you can put it directly on me. I’ll be held responsible, and I should be.”