{"id":1766,"date":"2025-10-15T14:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/1766\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T14:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:26:08","slug":"reading-council-confirms-javier-ruiz-as-police-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/1766\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Council confirms Javier Ruiz as police chief"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reading has a new police chief.<\/p>\n<p>City Council, in a special meeting Monday, unanimously confirmed Javier Ruiz as chief of the city\u2019s police department.<\/p>\n<p>Ruiz, a lifelong city resident and 25-year veteran of the department, had been serving as acting chief since September following the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingeagle.com\/2025\/09\/05\/reading-police-chief-resigns-after-fewer-than-2-years-on-job\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">resignation of former Chief Elias Vazquez<\/a> for personal reasons. Before that, Ruiz served as deputy chief.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Eddie Moran formally appointed Ruiz. That appointment was approved by council in accordance with the city\u2019s Home Rule Charter.<\/p>\n<p>Council members praised Ruiz for his leadership, longevity and dedication to the community.<\/p>\n<p>One of his roles as deputy chief was serving as community liaison.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Acting Reading Police Chief Javier Ruiz and Mayor Eddie Moran embrace while Chief Elias Vazquez applauds during a press conference in city council chambers on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)\" width=\"3000\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/REG-L-ReadingPoliceChiefVazquezLeaves0512.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"2273124\" \/>Acting Reading Police Chief Javier Ruiz and Mayor Eddie Moran embrace while Chief Elias Vazquez applauds during a press conference in city council chambers on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI support Chief Ruiz 100% in this position,\u201d said Councilwoman Melissa Ventura. \u201cThe community has spoken, and I appreciate your commitment to the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Councilman Jaime Baez Jr. noted that Ruiz has twice stepped into leadership roles during times of transition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe (department\u2019s) morale is up,\u201d he said, \u201cand it\u2019s because we have good leadership. And that\u2019s you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Councilwoman Vanessa Campos commended Ruiz for his connection to the city\u2019s diverse community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour strengths are commendable,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re bilingual, you\u2019ve stayed with us this long, and the community identifies with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Council President Donna Reed noted Ruiz\u2019s perseverance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to be said for staying with the city,\u201d she said, congratulating the new chief. \u201cYou\u2019ve seen many councils, mayors and chiefs come and go, but you\u2019ve stayed the course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Originally Published: October 7, 2025 at 5:09 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading has a new police chief. City Council, in a special meeting Monday, unanimously confirmed Javier Ruiz as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-1766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-essential-reading","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading","14":"tag-reading-city","15":"tag-reading-city-headlines","16":"tag-reading-city-news","17":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}