Chief Joseph Kreins is a tenured law enforcement and municipal government executive with more than 40 years of experience, working with cities, counties, and special districts throughout California.  Chief Kreins began his career with the City of Concord, where he rose through the ranks of the police department. During his 17 years in Concord, he served as the department’s first-ever Public Information Officer (a position that held for 4 years). He was one of the department’s key architects in working to develop their community engagement and community policing strategies in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  After serving as a District Commander, Kreins left Concord in 2001 and was appointed Chief of Police for the Sausalito Police Department. In 2003, Kreins was appointed to the position of assistant city manager. Along with his position as Chief of Police, his responsibilities included leadership and management of the City Fire Department, as well as Information Technology and City Parking Services.

In 2004, Chief Kreins left Sausalito and was appointed Chief of Police for the City of Novato, a community of approximately 55,000 residents. He led that department until 2012, when he was recruited to serve as Chief of Police for the City of Vallejo (2012-2014), a community of 120,000. Chief Kreins provided leadership in Vallejo during a critical period, following that City’s emergence from bankruptcy. During that time, police staffing levels were significantly reduced due to financial challenges, and there were serious concerns about crime in Vallejo. During his tenure in Vallejo, the Department successfully reduced crime across all categories, enhanced community trust and relationships, and significantly restored police staffing and public safety credibility.

From 2014-2022, Chief Kreins served as the interim Chief of Police in the cities of Vallejo, Benicia, Winters, Novato, Clayton and Suisun City. He also served as a Special Advisor and public safety consultant to the CEO of the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART). Additionally, Kreins served as consultant to the Central Marin Police Authority, and the Redlands and Vacaville Police Departments, completing leadership development, team building, strategic planning and comprehensive organizational audits of those agencies. He has facilitated several organizational audits/assessments of numerous law enforcement agencies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Chief Kreins has worked as an independent municipal government and law enforcement consultant for more than 10 years, and has served as a POST certified facilitator/presenter for California law enforcement agencies in team building and strategic planning workshops. He has additional experience working with city managers and elected officials in providing consulting services to include goal setting and strategic planning, management planning, coaching and mentoring, and budget development.  Additional consulting services have included: clients for supervisory/management and executive recruitments, promotional processes, organizational audits/assessments, and numerous team building and strategic planning workshops. Chief Kreins has consulted with more than 35 law enforcement agencies, municipalities, counties and special districts throughout California.

While serving more than 20 years as a police chief and interim police chief, Kreins has become a subject matter expert in managing executive transitions in law enforcement agencies, and working with agencies to develop succession planning, goal-setting and strategic planning.

Chief Kreins holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Relations Management from Golden Gate University (magna cum laude). He holds certificates from the California Peace Officer Standards Training (P.O.S.T.), including a certificate in executive management. He has completed the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Law Enforcement Executive Development (LEEDS) program and the Senior Management Institute for Policing (SMIP) sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). Kreins has also attended many legal update seminars, numerous management and leadership symposiums through the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Police Executive Research Forum, California Peace Officers Association, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and California Police Chiefs Association.

Chief Kreins is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), has served on the board of directors for the California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA), and was president of the Solano County Law Enforcement Administrators Association and the Marin County Police Chiefs Association. He is a member of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and California Peace Officers Association (CPOA). He served on the board of directors of the Marin Emergency Radio Authority (MERA), and he has also held leadership positions in Rotary International, North Marin Community Services – Novato Youth Center, and the Mt. Diablo YMCA board of directors.

For more than 30 years, Kreins has taught a variety of law enforcement training courses including; police/media relations, crisis communications, community-policing and problem-solving, community-oriented government, leadership development, and developing first-line supervisors. These courses were taught through the Peace Officers Standards Training programs (POST) – Supervisory and Management courses, the California State Training Institute (CSTI) – and the California Office of Emergency Services (OES).