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Saying ‘it’s not about me,’ Marylinda Arroyo succeeds Bernard Melekian COURTESY PHOTO“It’s not about me,” new Interim Santa Barbara Police Chief Marylinda Arroyo said. “It’s what’s best for the city. I’m 100% here to do my job and whatever I’m asked to do. That’s my commitment to the city.”
Her predecessor describes Interim Santa Barbara Police Chief Marylinda Arroyo as “one of the most strategic thinkers I have met in this business.”
City Administrator Rebecca Bjork calls her “extremely competent and capable.”
And her law enforcement background speaks volumes: The first woman to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant, captain and commander in the 122-year history of the Santa Barbara Police Department. Commander of the field operations division, which includes patrol, traffic, special enforcement, street crimes, co-response, dispatch, SWAT and CNRT. Winner of the prestigious Thomas H. Guerry Award, Chief Meritorious Award and California Peace Officers Association Foundation Award.
Yet despite the accolades and her impressive resume, there’s one quality left unmentioned: Modesty.
During an interview with the News-Press on Wednesday, Chief Arroyo was nothing but self-effacing, saying repeatedly that “it’s not about me.”
“We have such exceptional people working here at the police station, really good, dedicated individuals who love this community and do the best they can every day,” she said. “I am part of the team and doing what’s best for the community and city.”
When she says team, she’s not just referring to her police department colleagues, either, but everyone who works for the city from Administrator Bjork to department heads to staff.
“I signed up to be a peace officer for the city of Santa Barbara,” she said. “I am a public servant and am going to do what is asked of me anytime, 100 percent.”
Chief Arroyo deflected questions about how it felt to be selected by Ms. Bjork to be the new interim chief based on former Interim Police Chief Bernard Melekian’s recommendation.
“Again, it’s not about me. It’s what’s best for the city. I’m 100% here to do my job and whatever I’m asked to do. That’s my commitment to the city.”
Chief Arroyo said she’ll remain at her post for however long it takes to find a permanent chief, “whatever period of time the administration needs to move forward, whether it takes a week to several weeks to whatever’s needed until the city administrator makes that announcement.”
The city, she said, has started the process and already received several applications. Hers won’t be one of them.
Chief Melekian told the News-Press Tuesday that he talked to her about applying for the permanent position, but she chose not to apply “for a variety of personal reasons.
“If she had put in for it, she would have had my support,” he said. “She’s been with the department for close to 30 years, and she can’t go anywhere without someone knowing about her.”
“When you get to know her, you get to know how deeply she cares about the people she works with. She knows about them. She knows about their families and what’s going on with them. She’s not a showy person but makes it about her people. When they need something somehow, it just happens.”
“I relied on her a great deal and never regretted doing so,” he said.
Ms. Bjork confirmed that the nationwide search for Chief Arroyo’s permanent replacement “is actively in process right now” and said it could conclude by early fall.
In the meantime, she said, the police department remains in more than capable hands with Chief Arroyo at the helm.
“I’m confident that she has the ability to lead the department in the interim,” Ms. Bjork told the News-Press, citing Chief Arroyo’s “strong judgment, her leadership in the area of policing and her ability to understand and manage the department in a way consistent with the two past chiefs.”
But the new interim chief is nothing if not consistent in her denial of praise, saying anyone in the department could have taken the helm.
“In police work, all of us can be called to be chief at any period of time,” she said. “Anyone can be asked to do it,” from commanders to sergeants to those working the graveyard shift to someone who has to be awakened at home. “They are the chiefs in the middle of the night.
“That’s Succession 101. Everyone is trained to take over. We’re unlike any other department,” she said, with the possible exception being the fire department.
“We’re generally the first one in,” Chief Arroyo said. “It’s not about me. They all get out to do things every day. I just happen to be the one who’s honored to be the one” picked to be interim chief.
“I am just one lowly member of this team.”
The chief said she’s not planning to make any changes from the “very good, strong path” set by Chief Melekian. “My job is to maintain and expand on that consistent with the city preparing for the new chief,” she said.
Asked specifically about the issue of gang violence, she talked about “the phenomenal youth in our community” and “the need to do all we can to support them and provide positive ways to move forward. It’s a societal issue. It’s not just about criminal justice.”
At the same time, she acknowledged that first and foremost, police officers are ready to respond to calls for service whenever and wherever they occur.
“We have a presence and have to be there everywhere every time,” she said. “We exist to reduce harm in all aspects.”
And again, she praised her “exceptional people,” starting with the dispatchers who receive the calls and deal with stressed-out people on the phone and provide responding officers with the information they need to the officers on the scene.
Regarding the homeless people lining State Street, she noted that many are battling an addiction to drugs and that police are always looking for the people responsible for dealing the drugs “to help stem the tide of narcotics in Santa Barbara.”
Like gang violence, Chief Arroyo called homelessness a “societal issue.” She said she never expected to have her officers have to carry Narcan to provide “life-saving help” to those who end up overdosing.
“How many lives they have saved I don’t know.”
email: nhartstein@newspress.com
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