Public safety the main focus of new San Diego Harbor Police chief

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Harbor Police Chief Mark Stainbrook, who March 1 became chief and the port district’s vice president of public safety, realized early he wanted to become a chief and prepared accordingly. He joined the Los Angeles Police Department following service in the Marines, found the right mentors and undertook key assignments in patrol, gangs, internal affairs, intelligence and counterterrorism, while continuing in the Marine Reserves. Like most senior officers tagged as future leaders, he graduated from the FBI National Academy. When former Chief John Bolduc looked for a deputy chief the well-qualified Stainbrook was a natural choice. He twice served as acting chief and provided a stable transition for a department, which, prior to Bolduc’s arrival, endured too many short-tenured chiefs. Stainbrook shares Bolduc’s emphasis on protecting public safety, promoting citizen education on land and water and community policing. Cognizant of quality of life issues bedeviling waterfront communities, he secured Prop. 47 funding to provide Alpha Project social workers to connect local homeless, substance abusers and chronic petty criminals with social services to break the cycle of offending and dependency. He sees education as essential to improving safety on the water, encouraging boaters to get their California boaters’ cards...