Santa Monica
LOOKOUT
Traditional Reporting for A Digital Age

We Love Property Management Headaches!

1900 Pico Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 434-4000

By Jorge Cassuo

October 16, 2020 -- Retiring Santa Monica Police Chief Cynthia Renaud will receive four months of base pay totaling approximately $90,000 after she is replaced by former Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks later this month.

Renaud's abrupt retirement comes one week after the City announced it had hired a consulting firm specializing in law enforcement oversight to investigate the Police Department's response to the May 31 riots ("City Hires Firm to Probe Police Response to Riots," October 9, 2020).

"Under the agreement, Chief Renaud will receive severance pay in an amount equal to four months of her base bi-weekly salary, which shall be paid within 10 calendar days" of October 25, her last day on the City’s payroll, staff said in their report for a special Council meeting Saturday.

To receive the severance pay, Renaud must participate in interviews and provide materials requested by the OIR Group conducting the review of "the events leading up to, during, and following the protests, looting, and violence that occurred in Santa Monica on May 31, 2020."

She also must provide the City with the "reasonable information and assistance necessary to allow a smooth transition of duties to her successor," staff said.

Renaud will receive four months of her base pay, which was $290,231 in 2019, according to Transparent California, the State's largest public pay and pension database.

Her regular pay was part of a total pay and benefits package that amounted to $419,414 last year, according to the database.

Seabrooks, who served as the City’s Chief of Police from 2012 to 2017, will assume the post on October 26 on an interim basis.

“No one knows the Santa Monica community and Santa Monica Police Department like our friend and longtime leader, Jackie Seabrooks,” Interim City Manager Lane Dilg said in a statement Friday.

“This is a critical moment for Santa Monica," Dilg said. "I have every confidence in Chief Seabrooks and look forward to working together to provide for community safety and wellbeing, as well as to advance public safety reform work underway.”

As Chief, Seabrooks -- who previously served on the force from 1982 to 2007 -- is credited with implementing the department's body-worn camera program and "implicit bias training," City officials said in a statement.

Under her watch, SMPD "acquired the hand-held technology needed to enable the department to respond to the legal requirements" of the Racial & Identify Profiling Act "well ahead of schedule," officials said.

Seabrooks also provided "decisive and steady leadership in the aftermath of the 2013 spree shooting which culminated on the Santa Monica College campus," City officials said.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for American Police Reform.