At the regular Upland City Council meeting on Monday, June 27, 2022, City
Manager Michael Blay announced Police Chief Police Captain Marcelo Blanco has been appointed Upland’s chief of police, effective Sunday, July 10, 2022.
Blanco, who has been serving as acting police chief since April, will succeed Police Chief Darren Goodman, who officially left Upland last month to become police chief in San Bernardino.
Blanco, a 30-year veteran of the Upland Police Department, was born in Argentina. At the age of 5, he moved to Madrid, Spain, where he lived for two years before emigrating with his parents to Los Angeles. He grew up in the L.A. area, and during his junior year in high school, he moved to Upland and eventually graduated from Upland High in 1991. During his senior year in high school, he took a Regional Occupational Program class where he volunteered at the Upland Police Department in the crime prevention unit. Upon graduating high school, he was hired as a police cadet, working in evidence. After two-and-a-half years of being a cadet, he was hired as a full-time non-sworn community service officer, in which capacity he spent six months as a dispatcher. He subsequently attended the police academy and was hired as a police officer upon graduation.
In 2005, Blanco was promoted to detective, where he worked on various investigative assignments, including commercial/metal theft, missing persons, auto theft, child/elder abuse, and sex crimes.  He was promoted to sergeant, where he was a field supervisor and community resource unit/homeless outreach program supervisor, mobile field force team leader, explorer post coordinator, and terrorism liaison. He was promoted to lieutenant, where he worked as a patrol watch commander. In 2018, Blanco advanced
to captain, where he has been the administrative service commander overseeing investigations, special teams, homeless outreach, records, code enforcement, animal control, police facilities, and the department’s budget.
Blanco has an associate degree in liberal studies from Chaffey College, a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Ashford University and he graduated in May with a master’s degree in organizational leadership from California Baptist University.
“Chief Blanco has the necessary education, experience, and heart to lead our police department and I am confident he is the right person for the job,” said City Manager Michael Blay, “I look forward to working with Chief Blanco for many years to come.”
An official swearing in ceremony will take place at the regular Upland City Council meeting on Monday, July 11, 2022.