Chief Susan Manheimer retired after a distinguished 37-year career in law enforcement, during which she served in leadership roles across four diverse police agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, she has been appointed as an Interim Chief providing stable leadership during transitions for several Bay Area cities, serving as the Interim Chief of Police for the Oakland, San Leandro, and San Bruno Police Departments, after concluding a 20-year tenure as Chief of Police for the San Mateo Police Department (SMPD). Before leading SMPD, she served almost 17 years with the San Francisco Police Department, spearheading crime and harm reduction strategies in the most challenging areas of the city.

Chief Manheimer is now a sought-after consultant, trainer, and subject matter expert in criminal justice strategies and community engagement, including crime reduction through public-private partnerships, and neighborhood and community improvement and development. She is a Strategic Site Liaison for the BJA’s Public Safety Partnerships, providing training and technical assistance in executive leadership, strategic and crisis communications, and technology assessments. She is currently a lead instructor for the California POST “Succeeding as a Police Chief” course.

One of the most senior and respected police Chiefs in the country, Chief Manheimer has held leadership roles at the national, state, and local levels. She is the first woman to have served as president of the California Police Chiefs Association and the San Mateo County Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association, and the CA Governor’s Big Five Criminal Justice Advisory Board. A longtime member of the Police Executive Research Forum, an Executive Fellow at the National Policing Institute and the Policing Futures Institute, she also served on the second cohort of the influential Executive Sessions on Policing at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.