After 28 years of service, the City of Redondo Beach bid farewell to Police Captain Tom Krafick as Mayor Steve Aspel presented Krafick with the Key to the City at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
“I don’t feel like I should be going home as the old guy, but the city is in great hands now,” Krafick said.
Krafick began his career in Newtown, Connecticut, serving his home state. But a California summer vacation brought him to Redondo Beach, where he was inspired to apply to the Redondo Beach Police Department after working four years in Newtown.
He was hired in 1988, and served in seemingly every available division in the department, working patrol, on the pier, in gang enforcement, motors, DARE and SWAT. In 1998, he was promoted to Sergeant; five years later, he made Lieutenant, and was then promoted to Captain in 2007.
“I’ve known you ever since I’ve been around, and I know you’ve been tinkering with the idea of retirement for a while,” Aspel said. “It’s sad when the city loses someone of your talent, and I’m sad to see you go.”
As an officer in the Hawthorne Police Department, RBPD Chief Keith Kauffman knew Krafick as a colleague long before he was brought aboard to lead Redondo last year.
“Coming over as your new boss was more weird for me than it was for you. You hear horror stories about these things going wrong, but in this case I got nothing but support from you and [Capt. Jeff Hink],” Kauffman said. “I wanted to thank you for your support, not only for my being new, but for your vision and helping us to pushing things forward.”
Krafick, whose last day came on Dec. 30, was able to hold his emotions in check.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the phenomenal community in Redondo Beach. People take time out of their days to say thanks and shake our hands, and their letters mean a lot to our officers,” Krafick said. “This place is going to be a blast to work for; it has been for me for 28 years.”
