who retired at the end of August<\/a> after 34 years with the department and three as chief.<\/p>\n\u201cChief Shab brings extensive experience in law enforcement and is a proven leader who has dedicated his career to public service,\u201d City Manager Tamara Vides said in a statement. \u201cChief Shab takes great pride in having built a reputation for integrity, fairness, transparency, and earned trust by putting people first; both within the organization and in the communities he serves.\u201d<\/p>\n
A native of East San Jose where he graduated from Independence High School, Shab received his bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice management from the Union Institute and University, and a master of science in law enforcement and public safety leadership from the University of San Diego. He is also a graduate of the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training\u2018s Command College Program.<\/p>\n
Prior to joining law enforcement, Shab spent eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve and California National Guard, most of which was with the 670th Military Police Co., where he completed his tour as sergeant\/team leader, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 1999, he joined the San Jose Police Department as an officer largely assigned to patrol duty and the Metro, Field Training and Mobile Emergency Response Group and Equipment units, the latter being the department\u2019s equivalent of a SWAT team.<\/p>\n
After 10 years as an officer, Shab was promoted to sergeant in 2009. He held this position for eight years, then climbed the ranks to lieutenant, patrol captain for the department\u2019s Western Division, deputy chief for the Bureau of Field Operations, deputy chief executive officer and finally assistant chief of police, which he was promoted to in October 2024.<\/p>\n
Among the awards Shab received during his tenure in San Jose were a Medal of Valor, Hazardous Duty Award, Outstanding Police Duty Award and multiple Special Merit Awards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am truly honored, humbled, and excited to have been selected to serve as the next Chief of Police for the City of Watsonville,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cAs a Santa Cruz County resident, Watsonville holds a special place in my heart. It is a beautifully diverse, hard-working, and family-oriented community. I will lead with accountability, compassion, and respect, and continue strengthening the community trust and relationships that are already a hallmark of the Watsonville Police.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Rodriguez, Watsonville\u2019s assistant police chief, has served as interim chief since Zamora\u2019s retirement. Shab\u2019s start date will be dependent on completion of a background check.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WATSONVILLE \u2014 Brian Shab, San Jose\u2019s assistant chief of police, is ready for his next assignment over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[7,138,181,23,100,180,88,90,89,3234,11790],"class_list":["post-107770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-california","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-cruz-county","tag-watsonville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}