Having built up CMPD after a retirement wave, Chief Ron Lawrence will himself retire
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Costa Mesa Police Chief Ron Lawrence, who came to helm of the city’s police department in 2021 and helped build back leadership within the force after a wave of retirements, has announced his own retirement plans.
City officials broke the news to department heads earlier this week and issued a news release Friday to the wider public. The 55-year-old will remain in the position until June 27, just shy of his four-year-anniversary in Costa Mesa.
For the record:
11:53 a.m. March 29, 2025A previous version of this story omitted the fact Lawrence had also served as a police chief in Rocklin and misstated the number of CMPD lieutenant promotions during his tenure. He promoted four of seven lieutenants.
Lawrence said the move was always in the cards, indicating he told City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison when he took the job that he’d likely stay anywhere from three to five years.
“But I also told her I would do a lot of good things,” he recalled Friday in a phone interview, while on an afternoon walk with his wife, Jennifer. “I know how to build a good team, I know how to leverage what works and to work on what doesn’t.”
During his tenure, Lawrence helped build inroads in the local community through an intentional outreach effort while securing technology improvements and grant funding that helped lower crime rates and equip officers with better tools to do their jobs.
He is credited with creating new leadership roles within the Costa Mesa Police Department, including the position of deputy chief, and promoting to the rank of captain Bryan Wadkins and Jason Chamness. Lawrence also appointed four out of seven of the department’s lieutenants and promoted many more officers as sergeants.
“When I took this job, I was asked to build on an already positive reputation. But what we were suffering from then was a staffing issue,” he said, recalling a time when retirements had reduced the number of sworn officers from 165 to just 99, leaving a scarcity of mid- to upper-level personnel. Today, there are 142 sworn officer positions.
“If I hire the right people and promote the right leaders, my job becomes remarkably easier,” he reasoned. “So, I hire people with servants’ hearts, people who want to be of service.”
A 35-year law enforcement veteran who has served one-third of his career in department leadership positions, Lawrence graduated from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Academy in 1989 at the age of 19 and served as a part-time deputy for six months before moving to the Placer County Sheriff’s Department.
He went on to serve the cities of Lincoln and West Sacramento before landing a lieutenant position in 2003 in Palo Alto, where he would meet his wife, who then worked as an officer. Lawrence later served as captain, and eventually chief, in the city of Rocklin before taking a job as chief of the Citrus Heights Police Department in 2016.
Lawrence also served on several statewide boards and commissions, including the Western States Information Network (WISN), the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and the California Police Chiefs Assn. where, as president in 2019, he represented 335 California chiefs as liaison to the governor, state attorney general and state Legislature.
Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens, who alongside Lawrence attended several community “listening tours” intended to create connections between citizens and their local government, praised the outgoing chief for building up the department’s staffing and resources.
“Chief Lawrence led the organization through a staffing transition as a result of key retirements, and he has brought the organization to a whole new level,” Stephens said in the city’s release.
“He introduced a responsive culture which is highly regarded in the law enforcement profession, and became a trusted and respected professional and neighbor in our community.”
City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison in Friday’s announcement credited Lawrence for working as part of a wider team to earn and build trust in the community.
“It is with mixed emotions that I accept Chief Lawrence’s intent to retire at the end of June after an amazing and successful 35-year career dedicating his life to the service of others,” she said. “[He] will be missed, and I thank him for transitioning the police department to an even higher level of performance.”
Farrell Harrison will oversee the search for the city’s next chief, deciding whether to appoint someone from within the ranks of CMPD or to conduct an outside search for candidates.
Lawrence said Friday he hopes his successor is an empathetic leader who understands the humanity of the community and the organization and someone who loves Costa Mesa and the job as much as he does.
“I love the people. I love this job, and it’s hard to leave something you love to do,” he said. “But I’m getting older, and future leaders need to emerge.”
