Glendale Officer to Become Police Chief

A 25-year Glendale Police Department veteran is set to become the new police chief in Port Hueneme.

Lt. Stephen Campbell beat out 60 other applicants vying to lead the county’s smallest police force and replace retiring Chief John Hopkins, said Karen Jackson, who serves as the city clerk and city personnel director.

Hopkins, who started his career as a reserve office for the department in 1966, will work with Campbell during December before leaving at the end of the year, Jackson said.

“We’re really happy,” Jackson said. “He was our No. 1 candidate.”

Campbell, who has advanced police training from the FBI’s national academy and the delinquency control institute at USC, has been a supervisor on the Glendale force since 1991, when he took over juvenile investigations. He is currently in charge of the department’s special services division.

Campbell, who lives in Oak Park with his family, said he was eager to start working in Ventura County. He said he had no problem going from the 240-officer Glendale force to the Hueneme Police Department, which has only 21 officers.

“I’ve always wanted to be a police chief in a small town, and now I finally get to do that,” he said. Campbell’s hiring is scheduled to be announced at the City Council meeting at 7:30 tonight at City Hall at 250 N. Ventura Road.