There's a new sheriff in town
Surprise, surprise folks. Baldwin Park's got a new police chief. I just got off the phone with Mayor Manuel Lozano who told me the City Council voted unanimously in closed session tonight to appoint ..... wait, drum roll please ....... El Monte Police Lt. Ken Alva as the new police chief.
Alva will likely start contract negotiations with Chief Executive Officer Vijay Singhal next week, Lozano said.
The announcement came pretty unexpectedly, considering Lozano told me earlier today that the closed session item listed as *Police chief appointment* on today's agenda was just a "status update" on where the city was in terms of background checks with its top two candidates.
I should add that closed session item was added to the agenda Tuesday, one day before the meeting. Well, officials say Suisun City Police Chief Ed Dadisho - who, was also up for the job - submitted a letter to Singhal today asking to withdraw his candidacy "for personal reasons."
Regardless, looks like Alva is in, as long as nothing egregious turns up on his background check of course.
We've got a brief about the issue running in Thursday's paper, and we'll have a full follow-up Friday, along with - hopefully - a profile on Alva for the weekend.