I hope that this is the team builder that they say that they have been looking for and wanting. I know that it says that he was credited with saving Baldwin Park Police Department. If you ask me Baldwin Park Police Department was already saved it was up to him to hire the people that he wanted to get the Department that was in his minds eye. Now, Baldwin Park is a city in the Greater Los Angeles County, so why would Mark Kling want to come to Rialto Police Department after only being Chief at Baldwin Park for 5 years. He was only a Chief at Baldwin Park for 5 years and if you ask me that means that he only build it up for the last five years the city has more to grow, and the Police Department has more to grow.
So, My question to everyone that might read my BLOG, is this, Why would Mark Kling just drop every thing and become Chief here in Rialto, seems that he still has much to do to make Baldwin Park a better place. There has to be a reason that Mark Kling is taking his leave from Baldwin Park and coming to Rialto, he might or might not be the answer to the questions at hand, I wonder how pleased people are in Baldwin Park that this guy is leaving there. There are so many questions that are not being answered here. I am wondering why Kling is coming to Rialto just seems weird to me when he was chief at a department of the same size.
BSRanch
Rialto picks new police chief
Mark Kling credited with Baldwin Park PD revival
Robert Rogers SB Sun Staff Writer...
RIALTO - Baldwin Park Police Chief Mark Kling will serve as this city's next top cop, City Administrator Henry Garcia announced Wednesday.
Kling built his reputation in part on rebuilding the Baldwin Park Police Department, which bordered on dissolution five years ago. The Rialto Police Department weathered a similar struggle after the City Council voted in September to disband it in favor of contracting with the Sheriff's Department. The council reversed its position in March.
"I look at this as an opportunity, and I see a city on the verge of explosive growth. The challenge motivates me," Kling said.
Garcia said Kling, who was chosen after a final round of interviews Monday and will be paid $153,000 yearly, was the best fit for the situation and the city.
"Mr. Kling and I share a serious commitment to reinventing this department," Garcia said. "He is the perfect leader to change the organizational culture from one that has been distanced to one that is integrated."
Garcia's decision does not require council approval. His selection followed recommendations from a seven-member interview committee that shaved a field of seven candidates to the two Garcia interviewed Monday.
Garcia sketched Kling as tough, principled and brainy, pointing to his success in leading the Baldwin Park Poliuce Department since 2001 and his doctorate in public administration from the University of La Verne.
"He shares with us a desire for a cultural change and a confidence and focus to lead the city into the future," Garcia said. "There is no Plan B because we will accomplish Plan A (rebuilding the department)."
Baldwin Park city and police officials, unaware their chief was stalking the Rialto position, were jolted Wednesday morning.
"It took me aback. It was totally unexpected," said Baldwin Park Mayor Manuel Lozano. "He's one of the most talented, innovative leaders I've ever met. He'll be tough to replace."
Kling "turned around" the Police Department in the 84,000-population city when he ascended from captain to chief in 2001, according to Lozano.
Kling helped revive a Police Department that some in city leadership at the time suggested be scrapped in favor of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Kling will be stepping up from a department with 124 personnel to Rialto's, which employs about 160 when fully staffed. Currently, staffing is down nearly 25 percent.
"In 2001, the Baldwin Park police was in roughly the same condition Rialto is in now," Kling said. "I'm ready to get in and develop a plan to return the department to premiere status."
Kling said he hoped to start his new job by late August.
Members of the seven-person interview committee that screened the top seven applicants July 6 overwhelmingly favored Kling. Councilman Ed Scott said Kling was "dynamite" in the interview, impressing his interrogators with his energy, communication skills and knowledge of Rialto's community and department.
"He clearly did his homework," Scott said.
Questions swirled among community members closely watching the saga unfold as to what would happen if Garcia flouted the committee's consensus and opted against Kling.
But it didn't happen, and virtually everyone seemed satisfied Wednesday.
"I'm just glad it's over and (Garcia) didn't mess it up," said resident Angie Consolo, who was a member of the citizen group that opposed Garcia and the council's since-abandoned plans to disband the Police Department.
Rialto police union president Andrew Pilcher said Wednesday Kling was a "wise choice" who would have the support of the force's rank and file.
During his tenure in Baldwin Park, Kling's major accomplishments included expanding traffic forces, launching a narcotics-enforcement team and a full-time gang-enforcement team and upgrades of communications and weapons and defense systems, according to a Baldwin Park police association presentation to the City Council in 2004.
"But most of all, Chief Kling has established an atmosphere of trust and fairness within the Police Departme nt," wrote Officer Mark Adams in the report.
Kling called the commendation one of his greatest personal achievements.
Kling, 48, was born in Montebello in 1957 and graduated from Montebello High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Phoenix and a master's degree and doctorate from the University of La Verne. He completed his dissertation and received his degree in 2003, moonlighting as a student between duties as police chief.
After serving as a police Explorer at age 14, Kling got a job as a reserve officer with Monterey Park police in 1981 and worked there until 1999, when he joined the Baldwin Park force.
Kling said he plans on staying in Rialto long-term.
"Rialto today is nothing like what it's going to be like in the future," Kling said. "I wouldn't come here if I didn't want to be a part of that equation, that future."
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