Santa Maria Police Department welcomes new Chief of Police Christopher Williams

Your weekly dose of local news, arts, and culture. Our News Wire newsletter lands every Thursday with the stories shaping Northern Santa Barbara County

SEND ME THE HEADLINES!

No car left a more lasting impression on Christopher Williams than the police cruiser that would pull up outside of his elementary school.

It was an arresting sight that caught many students’ attention, recalled Williams, whose eyes were frequently glued to the vehicle and its badged driver—who happened to be his father.

“My dad was a police officer. He worked for the California Highway Patrol,” said Williams, born in Reno, Nevada, and raised in Oxnard from age 3. “Once a year, my dad would bring his patrol car to the school, and I remember vividly in kindergarten just all the kids flocking to him, … like a hometown hero.”

These moments cemented Williams’ answer to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

It wasn’t hard for him to put alternative dreams of flying jets and rocket ships to rest at the time, Santa Maria’s new chief of police explained.

“I went through phases, probably like most kids, wanting to be a fighter pilot or an astronaut. But that was kind of short lived,” Williams said. “Law enforcement runs deep in my family.”

One of Williams’ uncles was also a highway patrol officer, while his great-grandfather was a police sergeant. In 2021, Williams’ cousin Justin Williams Bedwell, a 20-year lawman who served Decatur County, Georgia, was shot after pursuing a pickup truck that evaded a traffic stop. 

The shooter was arrested within 12 hours, according to the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office, while Bedwell died from his wounds in the hospital two days later.

“I just think that service runs in my blood,” Williams said. “That sense of doing good for the community and making a positive impact, not just through police service. My grandma was a nurse. My dad and grandparents were in the military.”

Now nearly three decades into his career in law enforcement, Williams recently took on the role of police chief in a city he’s never worked in before, but not one he’s entirely unfamiliar with. Like his original aspirations of becoming a police officer, Williams’ fondness for Santa Maria stems back to childhood.

“Starting from the age of 6 up to high school, I was a competitive swimmer. And once a year, we’d go to Santa Maria for a big invitational swim meet,” Williams said. “When I saw a posting for the police chief job in Santa Maria, I flashed back to all those memories of when I was a kid.”

Williams’ first day as Santa Maria’s police chief was April 28. Former Chief Marc Schneider retired in November 2024, after about 30 years of police service. Williams said he had six phone calls with Schneider before taking over.

“You can definitely tell that he has a strong passion for Santa Maria. He was very transparent,” Williams said. “He was extremely supportive throughout the process.”

During his second day on the job, Williams was among a handful of police officers who interacted with Santa Maria residents face-to-face at Simple Cafe on Miller Street, during the shop’s Coffee with a Cop program.

“I actually got to make a couple cups of coffee drinks that people ordered,” said Williams, who listed americanos, vanilla lattes, and chai lattes as beverages he mixed and poured that morning.

Williams has never worked as a professional barista, but the April 29 event wasn’t his first time behind a coffee shop counter as part of his police duties.

“I think Oxnard did a good job of preparing me for this role,” Williams said with a laugh. “Back in Oxnard, we would do a lot of these. … It’s important to have ‘coffee and cop’ events and other community events where you get to see who you’re working for and why you’re doing it.”

It’s also important for community members, especially young people, to see officers outside of their normal police routines, added Williams, who spent about four years volunteering as a youth football coach in Oxnard for that same reason.

“I think it’s important that our youth see that police officers are just human beings,” Williams said. “We wear that uniform. But outside of that uniform, we’re just like their mom, dad, brother, sister, uncle, cousin. And we’re there to be used as a resource.”

Over the course of his 28 years with the Oxnard Police Department, Williams worked in several different roles, including school resource officer, gang investigator, patrol sergeant, and homicide sergeant. 

In 2022, he was promoted from a division commander role to assistant police chief, his final title with Oxnard’s department.

“When I started my career 28 years ago, I had no ambitions of ever being the chief of police, ever being a commander, assistant chief, anything like that,” Williams said. “I just wanted to go out and do good.”

Before applying for police chief, Williams got a feel for Santa Maria’s current climate by watching recent City Council meetings on YouTube.

Williams said he appreciated the commemorations of veterans and small businesses, and he aligned with sentiments expressed by local officials, including the city’s stance on immigration enforcement.

In February, Mayor Alice Patino responded to what she described as “concerns from residents, community groups, and nonprofits about federal immigration enforcement,” shortly after a protest against ICE was held outside of Santa Maria City Hall.

“Our message as the city of Santa Maria is clear: We want people to feel safe interacting with all city employees, especially police officers without fear,” Patino said at the council’s Feb. 18 meeting. “The city of Santa Maria deeply appreciates and values the trust and cooperation between all its departments and all its residents, regardless of immigration status.”

State Senate Bill 54 (2018), also known as the California Values Act, restricts local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with ICE, except under certain circumstances related to felonies and specific convictions, Williams said.

Regardless of those instances, when a community member reaches out to the Santa Maria Police Department for help, an officer will never ask about their citizenship, Williams added.

“I think it’s important that the community knows that we’re your police department, and we want to form a good strong partnership with the community,” Williams said. “We don’t care and we will never ask what your immigration status is because it really has nothing to do with our work. We’re here to help the community.”

Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.

This article appears in May 8-18, 2025.