Acting Santa Maria Police Chief Marc Schneider will officially take over as the new chief of the department on Jan. 2.
SANTA MARIA — Marc Schneider will become Santa Maria’s Chief of Police Jan. 2. Saturday, he began the role of acting chief.
Chief Schneider began working with the Santa Maria Police Department in 1995 as an officer. He was promoted to sergeant, then lieutenant and earned the role of Division Commander in March 2017.
Prior to his work in the SMPD, he worked with the city of Pismo Beach.
His works extends to local nonprofits and serves on the following boards: Board of Trustees for Child Abuse Listening Mediation (CALM), Advisory Board for One805, and Department Liaison for the Santa Maria Police Council. He is also a member of the following civic organizations: Breakfast Rotary Club of Santa Maria, and the Santa Maria Elks Lodge #1538.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology and a master’s in human resource management.
He succeeds Phillip Hansen, who served over seven years for Santa Maria and recently retired.
SMPD has 196 positions and serves more than 170,000 calls each year for police and fire service.
— Annelise Hanshaw
