New chief ready to get involved with Surf City

Jose Paul Corona

Kenneth Small isn’t the kind of police chief who sits in his

office or in meetings all day.

He likes to get out in the field, talk to employees and get to

know members of the community, he said.

“I like to spend a lot of time out of my office working with my

colleagues,” Small said, adding that front line employees like to

know that their superiors know what they do. “I really like to get

involved and interact with them one on one, so that I can really have

an appreciation for the problems and issues they are dealing with.”

Small will take over as Huntington Beach Chief of Police on Oct.

14 and the San Fernando Valley native is looking forward to returning

to familiar territory.

“My wife and I are very excited, we’re Californians at heart,” he

said. “Even though we’ve been gone for six years it will be nice to

come back home.”

He will replace Chief Ron Lowenberg who has been with the

department for 13 years.

Small has served as the Daytona Beach Chief of Police in Daytona

Beach, Fla. for the past six years and before that he spent 25 years

with the Los Angeles Police Department, where he worked his way up

through the ranks from officer to captain.

Small, 54, and his wife Susan recently celebrated their 35th

wedding anniversary. They are the proud parents of three children

ages, 23, 27 and 30.

He was one of 50 applicants considered for the job. City

Administrator Ray Silver chose Small because of his experience in

working with a large police department and for his experience in

leading a police force in a coastal tourist community.

“It presents different challenges in my view,” Small said of a

beach community.

Not only do police officers have to deal with city residents, but

they have to interact with a large number of tourists, he said.

“I think [Huntington Beach] is going to be a great fit for him,”

Lowenberg said. “There’s a great benefit of Ken not being new to

California.”

Small grew up in the San Fernando Valley and attended Cleveland

High School in Reseda. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political

science from Cal State, Northridge and holds a masters degree in

science management from Cal State, Pomona.

Even though he’s ready to lead Surf City’s police force, Small

plans on bringing a little bit of Daytona Beach with him.

The Daytona Beach Police Department motto is “Committed to our

Community,” he said. “That’s really what we try to do.”

He demonstrated that commitment by instituting a community

policing program while in Daytona Beach. Police department officials

met with members of a Community Advisory Committee that advised them

of potential problems and concerns that they had about the

department.

“It’s a very popular program,” Small said.

He may establish a similar type of program once he begins his

tenure in Huntington Beach, but before he does that, he’ll have to

meet with his colleagues in the department and city residents.

“I’ll have to wait until I get there,” he said.