(March 18) Los Angeles Police Department Captain Brian P. Johnson has been selected as Upland’s next police chief. He will begin on April 20, replacing interim police chief Ken Bonson, who has acted in that capacity since the December 30 retirement of former police chief Jeff Mendenhall.
Johnson was chosen after a recruitment effort overseen by city manager Rod Butler.
Johnson’s current assignment is overseeing LAPD’s Pacific Area and the 300 sworn and professional civilian personnel who work there.
Johnson, whose father was a Los Angles police officer, was born and raised in Los Angeles. He was hired by LAPD on March 27, 1989. As a police officer, he worked a variety of assignments and divisions, which included: Foothill, Central, Newton and Rampart.
His experience includes patrol, vice, specialized detectives, special problems unit and field training officer. In 1996, he was promoted to sergeant. His supervisory assignments included
Southeast Division, Southwest Division, the employee opportunity and development division and chief of staff to the police chief.
In 2000, he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to the Southwest Area as a watch commander and administrative lieutenant. In 2001, he was assigned to the department’s internal affairs group where he covered both the South and Valley sections. He also worked as an adjutant for both the chief of operations and office of human resources. In addition, he worked as a training division officer. His last assignment prior to being promoted to captain was the bomb detection canine section of the emergency services division.
As a captain, he served for 13 months as the commanding officer in the Pacific Patrol Division from October 2011 to November 2012. He was then detailed to be the commanding officer in the South Traffic Division from November 2012 until September 2013. He then returned to the Pacific Area in September 2013 as the commanding officer.
Johnson received a Master’s Degree in behavioral science from California State University Dominguez Hills. He is a graduate of the Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute, West Point Leadership Program and the FBI National Academy.
He was one of two finalists for the chief’s position, having outdistanced a captain employed by the San Bernardino Police Department. Bonson applied for the post but was eliminated in the first round.
Johnson is the first police chief hired from outside the department since Eugene Mueller was persuaded to leave the Pasadena Police Department to become Upland police chief in 1941.
He will begin with an annual salary of $160,474, which is substantially below the $223,000 Upland was paying Mendenhall. He will receive the same benefits as other executive level managers with the city, worth roughly $45,000 annually.