Former LAPD deputy chief to head SFPD

George Gascon, chief of the Mesa, Ariz., police force and former chief deputy in the Los Angeles Police Department has been selected by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to head the SFPD.
Newsom, a candidate for governor, had been urged to look within the SFPD for a new chief, but said Gascon's record made him a top candidate.
"I know going outside is a risk," Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday about his decision not to select a replacement for outgoing chief Heather Fong from within the police department. "But (Gascon) is a nuts-and-bolts-type of chief, a cop's cop and very active in community policing."
Gascon, 55, has been police chief of Mesa, a city of 460,000 that is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area, since 2006. Before that, he was an assistant police chief in Los Angeles.