As she readies to retire, Laguna Beach police chief looks back on past 5 years as the ‘best’ of her career

Laura Farinella loves Laguna Beach.

While she was working with the Long Beach Police Department, everybody in her family would go to Laguna Beach, she said.

“I was kind of watching and waiting for this position to open up,” said Farinella, referring to her current job as Laguna Beach police chief. “I really wanted to come back and give back to a city and county that I loved. It took awhile, but the timing was right and I got really lucky.”

That was five years ago, and now, Farinella, 55, is preparing to step away from her position as Laguna’s chief as she closes out her 30-year career in law enforcement.

“When you look nationwide, the average tenure of a police chief is really about 3½ years. To have five years as a chief is outstanding, and I feel after 30 years ... it’s time to step back and let the next person lead the organization,” Farinella said. “I want to take time to be with my family, travel and enjoy all that.”

The city announced Farinella’s coming retirement last week. Her last day with the Police Department is in July. Recruitment for a new chief has begun.

Farinella came to the role in March 2015 as the Laguna Beach Police Department’s first female chief and its 16th overall.

Before that, she was deputy chief in the Long Beach Police Department, where she had worked since 1990, serving in all patrol divisions and several high-ranking capacities.

But law enforcement wasn’t always on her radar. In fact, it wasn’t something she even considered at first.

Farinella grew up in the San Fernando Valley but got acquainted with Orange County when she went to Chapman University in Orange, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and film and television production. She also has a master’s in emergency services administration from Cal State Long Beach.

She said she worked in the film and TV industry for a while, and then a friend became an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I thought it was cool to help people and not be behind a desk. It’d be exciting, different every day,” Farinella said. “At the time, I was living in Long Beach and I applied to be a police officer there and it worked out and I never looked back. I just kind of fell into [law enforcement] by chance.”

Under Farinella’s direction, the city said, Laguna has achieved record-low crime rates and added full-time jailers and beach patrol officers, a foot patrol for the downtown area and police presence at Main Beach and Heisler Park through community outreach booths. The department also added its first school resource officer and established several other outreach programs.

“[Farinella] was appointed due to her extensive experience in Long Beach, an intense drive to succeed and a passion for community-oriented policing,” City Manager John Pietig said in an email. “Chief Farinella exceeded my expectations on day one and has ever since.”

Pietig said Farinella’s leadership in the police handling of an America First rally in 2017 ensured the event didn’t get out of control. Thousands of people turned out to oppose a demonstration that organizers said was intended to honor victims of crimes allegedly committed by immigrants living in the United States illegally. Laguna Beach police and officers from multiple other law enforcement agencies stood watch on the boardwalk, on horseback and on foot and kept the two groups apart. Two people were arrested.

“Her leadership is one of the key reasons that [the] Police Department has worked together so well to bring crime to an all-time low,” Pietig said. “The chief is a team player and works well with the entire executive staff. It has been a real pleasure working with Chief Farinella and seeing the positive change she has brought to the department.”

While Farinella said she’s proud of what the department has accomplished, she said that overall, her relationships with people in the department and the community at large form her best memories.

“This is an outstanding place to work,” she said. “Best five years of my career. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

When asked what she would like to tell the public before she leaves, she said: “Thank you for your support for the past five years. I want them to know that they have, I think, one of the best police departments in the nation and to be proud of the minutemen and women that serve [Laguna Beach].”

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