First published in the Jan. 14 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
By Andres de Ocampo
Glendale News-Press
Glendale officials announced the appointment of Manuel Cid as the city’s new police chief at a City Council meeting on Tuesday.
Cid will succeed Carl Povilaitis, who served as Glendale’s police chief for 32 years. Povilaitis retired in October after his years of service to the Glendale community.
Cid will assume his leadership role at the Glendale Police Department on Jan. 16.
Previously, Cid served as the Culver City police chief for 2½ years, when he became Culver City’s youngest and first Latino police chief in 2020.
“I am incredibly humbled and honored to be joining the Glendale Police Department, an organization I have respected and admired for many years,” Cid said in a statement. “I consider the opportunity to serve the Glendale community as their police chief to be a great privilege and responsibility, one that I will approach with unwavering professionalism, humility and a commitment to work in partnership with our entire community.”
With two decades of experience in law enforcement, Cid said that he has many experiences that have shaped his “leadership style and policing philosophies,” he told the News-Press.
Before Cid became the 26th chief of police for Culver City, he was recruited to the city’s police department in 2005 after attending the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Academy and worked his way up the ranks.
In Culver City, Cid first worked as patrol officer, then as a member of the Investigation Bureau, a sergeant in 2012 and then lieutenant in 2015 with many more roles in between, according to a GPD statement.
Cid elaborated on his background as police chief for Culver City noting that he stepped into his role at the beginning of the pandemic, about a week after the killing of George Floyd.
“The last two and half years as the CCPD chief have been loaded. On top of dealing with the many challenges associated with the pandemic, I put a great deal of focus on improving the overall professionalism of the organization, particularly in the areas of policy and procedure, accountability and transparency measures, staffing levels, department efficiency, technology, as well as overall community engagement.”
About the similarities between Culver City and Glendale, Cid said that, though Glendale is larger, both cities have large populations of residents and visitors and both are home to diverse communities.
“The experience that I most carry over with me to Glendale [from Culver City] is the importance of fostering and preserving strong engagement and partnerships with all our community,” Cid said.
“For a law enforcement organization to find any level of consistent success they must keep a sharp focus on working in collaboration with all our community members and policing in a community-centric manner. The only way we can keep Glendale safe, and best serve our residents, has to be in partnership with all our community members,” he said.
Cid added that he plans on settling into his new position by collaborating and getting to know police department staff and Glendale community stakeholders.
Other goals for Cid include recruitment and retention of GPD staff, reducing traffic collisions and fatalities, improving pedestrian safety, educating residents about the deadly impact of drugs (particularly fentanyl), the better use of technology to improve service and safety, and preparing GPD for some of the major global events coming to the Los Angeles region, such as the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics.
“This is a very safe city and my first priority is to ensure that GPD does everything we can to preserve our high level of police services and maintain the Glendale community as one of the safest cities in America,” he said.
Acting Police Chief Andrew Jenks assumed the leadership role in October and he will return to his previous role as GPD’s Captain of the Support Services Bureau following Cid’s start date.
“[Cid] is a very experienced and respected leader in the Los Angeles community. … He will be an excellent fit for Glendale to help keep residents safe [and] keep the city moving in a positive direction. We’re very excited to have Chief Cid. He brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm and he will make a great leader for the department and community,” Jenks said.
Cid said he hopes to foster community relationships during his time as police chief. He spoke about his personal life in an effort to introduce himself and begin developing those relationships with the Glendale community.
“As the son of two Cuban immigrants who came to this country with nearly nothing, I have had the values of hard-work, commitment and perseverance instilled in me from a very early age,” Cid said.
“As I step into this new role as Glendale’s Chief of Police, the responsibility and privilege bestowed on me by this community is not lost on me, and this community has my commitment that I will work tirelessly, passionately and professionally to ensure this city remains a great place to live, work, and visit,” he said.
