Roxana Kennedy
Chief of Police,
Chula Vista Police Department
On December 30, 2016, Roxana Kennedy was appointed as the City of Chula Vista’s 24th Chief of Police. Chief Kennedy began her law enforcement career in 1992 after graduating from the Southwestern College Police Academy. She rose through the ranks to become the first female Lieutenant, Captain, and Chief of Police at the Chula Vista Police Department, as well as the first internally selected Chief of Police in 67 years.
Chief Kennedy is committed to the six pillars of 21st Century Policing by providing the highest level of professional law enforcement services to our community by building trust and legitimacy, increasing the use of technology, implementing community policing strategies, expanding officer training and education, and enhancing officer safety and wellness.
Under Chief Kennedy’s leadership, CVPD has adopted an innovation initiative focused on using technology to enhance community safety, increase situational awareness and officer safety, and reduce response times. CVPD is proud to be the first and only police department to work under the Federal Aviation Administration’s UAS Integrated Pilot Program “Drone as a First Responder (DFR)” concept which provides real-time data to officers and supervisors allowing officers to make better tactical decisions in the field providing safer outcomes for all parties involved. Chief Kennedy’s goal is sharing CVPD’s story with law enforcement partners nationally and internationally to help standardize and expand to any agency interested in the benefits. Most recently, Chief Kennedy completed intensive training and is now a FAA Part 107 Certified Drone Pilot which helps her have a greater understanding of how beneficial this program is for public safety.
CVPD is also leading another pilot project called Live911. Live911 allows officers in the field to hear incoming 911 calls and respond before critical calls are processed and dispatched. Additionally, these Live911 can pinpoint a callers location allowing an officer to locate sometimes traumatized callers that may not know their location.
Other programs of importance include:
- Body Worn Cameras – issued to all uniformed patrol
- Open Data Initiative – to provide greater transparency, build trust, and enhance community engagement, the CVPD is proud to be one of the first law enforcement agencies in the United States to participate in the White House Open Data Initiative
- Cell phone deployment to all sworn officers
- Opticom – preemptive traffic light CAD integration for responding officers
- Speakwrite – application-based report writing dictation program
- State-of-the-art Communication Center and Real-Time Operations Center
