Police

Interim Chief Susan E. Manheimer comes to the Oakland Police Department with a wealth of knowledge. The chief has nearly four decades of law enforcement experience, serving 19 years as Chief of Police in San Mateo and more than 16 years at the San Francisco Police Department.

Chief Manheimer has a hands-on collaborative approach, creating and implementing award-winning programs that have improved the quality of life and safety in the communities she’s served. Manheimer invests heavily in neighborhood policing partnerships, leading a coalition of public, private, and community-based organizations. Manheimer was at the head of several groundbreaking initiatives in both San Francisco and San Mateo County creating the Homeless Outreach Team, Quality of Life Beat Policing, a Juvenile Diversion and Referral Center, and the Countywide Gang Task Force.

Her leadership at the local, state, and national level has garnered recognition and accolades as the President of the California Police Chiefs Association, an appointee to the County State Juvenile Justice Commissions, and as the Chair of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Committee on Juvenile Justice and Child Protection. Chief Manheimer is an advocate for relational policing ensuring her officers work with and through the communities they serve, and she is a recipient of awards from the National Association for the Advancement of Color People, the Anti-Defamation League, the Tongan Interfaith Council, and the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center. Chief Manheimer received a Presidential appointment to the Office of Violence Against Women to work on the reauthorization of the VAWA Act in Congress.

Shortly upon retirement, Chief Manheimer was selected by Mayor Libby Schaaf to serve as Interim Police Chief for the City of Oakland in April of 2020. Her term has been extended as city leaders search for a permanent chief. Manheimer’s primary role has been to provide leadership, stability, and support to the department and the community as it works towards a seamless transition with the new Chief.

Leading through unprecedented times during a global pandemic, rising tension and violence in our major cities, and an intense focus on social and racial injustice have been challenging and rewarding. Manheimer continues to focus the department on ensuring fair and respectful policing while maintaining an emphasis on violent crime and crime prevention through constitutional policing and the application of 21^st Century policing principles.

Mayor Libby Schaaf said, “In Chief Manheimer, Oakland gets a proven leader who will build upon our historic reduction in crime, further reduce racial bias, and improve community engagement.”

Throughout her career, Chief Manheimer has been amongst the earliest female leaders in all ranks and all roles she’s served in. Mindful of that responsibility she lives by the mantra “It’s not important to be the first, it’s more important that your success opens the doors for others to follow.” She is a voice for those underrepresented and underserved, dedicating her service and her career to those in need and those most at-risk. As both a daughter and a mother of dedicated public servants, she is so proud that her children are carrying on that legacy; her daughter Sarah serves as a Deputy County Council, and her son Jesse is a United States Marine Major having served four tours of duty abroad.