Susan Manheimer
Chief of Police (Retired), San Mateo Police Department
& Course Instructor
Chief Manheimer has recently retired from a 37-year storied and diverse career in Law Enforcement in the San Francisco Bay Area, having served over 22 years as a Chief of Police. During her career she has served in appointed leadership roles in three Bay Area departments, while serving in leadership roles at the regional, state, national, and international levels. As an early trail blazer for women serving in law enforcement, she’s had many “firsts” and has always been mindful of the responsibility to set a high bar and ensure the door is “wide open” for others to follow to ensure diversity and inclusivity within her profession. Chief Manheimer is the only woman to have served as President of the California Police Chiefs’ Association and the San Mateo County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association.
Chief Manheimer is an innovator and collaborator, and her hallmark is forging community partnerships to improve and enhance the safety and quality of life in the many challenged areas in which she has chosen to serve. Widely recognized for her work in improving and enhancing neighborhoods, she is a recipient of many awards recognizing her accomplishments to include: the Law Enforcement Shield Award from the Anti-Defamation League, the Community Advocate Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Color People, The Guardian Award from the Bay Area Freedom House Anti-Trafficking Coalition, and the Joe Molloy Award, the highest recognition from the California Police Chiefs Association, after serving as their President for 18 months.
Chief Manheimer began her career and served almost 17 years with the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) 9/84 – 5/00. Her assignments included robbery decoy work, and gang and violent-crime suppression. She was both a Lieutenant and Captain of the Tenderloin Task Force, a tough inner-city neighborhood. She proposed and spearheaded the first Business Improvement District and Safety Ambassador program for the City and County of San Francisco. Chief Manheimer also spearheaded the very successful Homeless Outreach Team and Quality of Life Beat Policing which was subsequently replicated throughout the city.
She was a founding member of the SF City and County Juvenile Diversion and Referral Center. Under her tenure, Manheimer was able to forge a coalition of public, private, community-based organizations, and businesses to “Take Back the Tenderloin.” This helped reduce blight and increased neighborhood safety and quality of life, forging lasting coalitions engaging the challenged community. Those early impactful successes informed her approach for the rest of her career, and she was recruited by different cities as her programs gained recognition.
Appointed Chief of Police for the City of San Mateo (SMPD) in May of 2000, Manheimer served in that role until December of 2020. She continued her commitment to innovative policing public/private partnerships focusing on the most challenging problems facing her communities and youth and families. Under her leadership, the men and women of SMPD, through the support of many allied agencies and City and County of San Mateo, enacted award-winning programs that greatly improved outcomes for those they served.
The revitalization of downtown San Mateo was greatly enhanced by several initiatives she led for the City of San Mateo including replicating the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT), as well as the trauma-informed Field Crisis Response Team, and the outreach model for the Workers Resource Service Center. Manheimer served on the Juvenile Justice Commission and a key leader in San Mateo County’s Local Action Plan to End Homelessness.
During her long tenure as Chief of Police in San Mateo, Manheimer was selected / appointed to many key roles which benefitted her city and her profession. Tapped to participate in the Executive Sessions on Policing at the Harvard Kennedy School of Governmen, she also received a Presidential Appointment to the Office of Violence Against Women Act Re-commissioning and served as a long-time appointee for Governor Jerry Brown to the State Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Chief Manheimer has chaired the International Association of Chiefs of Police Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Committee for the past five years and continues in that role, and also continues as a Commissioner on the San Mateo County Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council. She has dedicated much of her career to “upstream” intervention and diversion for at-risk youth, implementing many successful programs to interrupt the “School-to-Prison" pipeline.
Upon retirement in December of 2019, she was tapped to serve as the Interim Chief for the Oakland Police Department in March of 2021. What began as a six-month interim appointment by Mayor Schaaf to provide stability and support during their Police Chief Search, quickly stretched out to almost eleven months, all served during the Global Pandemic. Serving OPD From April 2020 – February 2021, Chief Manheimer’s focus quickly pivoted from stability and support to police reform and civil unrest amidst an intense period of significant social and racial upheaval, much of it centering on policing.
Working with the OPD and city, federal oversight, police commission and community leadership, Chief Manheimer’s was able to navigate the issues while producing far-reaching policy and reform initiatives. Chief Manheimer retired upon the selection of a permanent Chief and is glad to have been able to contribute stability and responsive engaged leadership during some of the most tumultuous times in policing in her career.
Upon retirement Chief Manheimer continues to give back to the profession she loves and mentor and develop law enforcement leaders. She continues her longtime membership in the Police Executive Research Forum and serves as an Executive Fellow at the nationally recognized Police Foundation. Manheimer also serves on many local leadership boards and continues her efforts at leveraging resources to serve challenged and marginalized communities.
Chief Manheimer received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Management from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, where she has taught a popular class on Public Policy, and her Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University. She is a graduate of the POST Command College prestigious executive training program and a part of the training curriculum for law enforcement executives for the California Police Chiefs Association.
Chief Manheimer resides in San Mateo County and has two adult children, Sarah, a public sector attorney, and Jesse, a Major in the U.S. Marine Corps. Together with her grandchildren, they enjoy skiing, hiking, rowing, and service to their community.