SANTA ANA : Police Captain Will Head Hayward Force

A veteran Santa Ana police captain who helped shape the department’s problem-oriented approach to law enforcement has been named the new chief of the Hayward Police Department.

Police Capt. Joseph E. Brann, 41, is “a solid cop with a very broad background” who will soon be taking over the 150-officer department in the city on San Francisco Bay, just south of Oakland, Hayward City Manager Louis Garcia said.

Brann, who started working in Santa Ana in 1969, called his new job “a terrific opportunity. I’m looking forward to going into an organization that seems to have the same values as I do in terms of policing.”

Garcia said Brann was chosen for the $86,500-a-year job because of his strong devotion to “community-oriented policing,” in which officers intensively work beats and citizens become more involved in guiding the direction of the department. Under the concept, officers are encouraged to target specific crime problems.

“He’s seen as a good administrator and someone who has the interests of the officers at heart,” Garcia said.

The ethnic diversity in Hayward, with a population of about 105,000, Garcia said, roughly mirrors the diverse makeup of Santa Ana. Besides a large Latino community, Hayward has many Vietnamese and other Asian citizens.

The department needs a chief that can give some strong direction, Garcia pointed out.

Hayward officers have been without a permanent chief for about a year. In that time, the department has suffered embarrassments that included an incident in which officers subdued a blind man after mistaking his folded white cane for a concealed weapon. In another case, it was revealed that about 20 officers watched a stripper perform in a luxury booth at the Oakland Coliseum during an Oakland A’s baseball game.

Brann said, however, that the incidents have not soured civic leaders on the police. “I really view those as isolated incidents and I don’t believe (officers) have an image problem in the community,” he added.

Brann, who said he will earn about the same pay as he currently receives, is in charge of Santa Ana’s patrol force and is nearing completion of a doctoral degree in public policy from USC.