Santa Maria Police Chief Marc Schneider will be retiring, effective Nov. 29, Acting City Manager Chuen Wu has announced.
To fill the police chief’s position, the city will be working with a recruiting firm experienced in public safety. During the search period, Cmdr. Dan Cohen will service as the interim police chief.
“We thank Chief Schneider for this three decades of service to the community,” Wu said.
Schneider’s law enforcement career began in 1993 with the city of Pismo Beach. In 1995 he was hired by the Santa Maria Police Department, where he worked as an officer, sergeant and lieutenant before being promoted to division commander in March 2017.
Schneider became acting chief on Dec. 19, 2020 and police chief on Jan. 2, 2021.
A longtime Santa Marian, Schneider has a passion for serving the community and serves on the following nonprofit boards: Board of Trustees for Child Abuse Listening Mediation (CALM), Advisory Board for One805, and Department Liaison for the Santa Maria Police Council.
He is also a member of the civic organizations Breakfast Rotary Club of Santa Maria, and the Santa Maria Elks Lodge #1538.
Cohen began his law enforcement career more than 25 years ago with the Ontario Police Department before transferring back home to the Santa Maria Police Department in 1998.
He has held every rank the department offered: officer, corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, and was most recently promoted to division commander in 2017.
The Santa Maria Police Department has some 200 positions. Its Public Safety communications center receives about 200,000 calls for police and fire service every year.