Lacey names its next police chief. Who was picked?
Robert Almada is no longer the interim chief of police for Lacey after he accepted an offer Thursday to be its next chief, the city manager announced.
Almada will earn $185,093 per year as chief. He replaces Ken Semko, who retired in April 2020. Almada was named interim chief on May 1. His new role as chief begins July 1, according to the city.
“Over the past year, Bob readily embraced and successfully responded to a number of challenges while serving as the interim chief of police for Lacey,” City Manager Scott Spence said in a statement. “In addition, over the course of his career in law enforcement, he held a variety of positions and acquired a diverse knowledge base and skill set that will benefit this organization and the community. I am extremely confident he will be a successful police chief, community member, and an integral part of the city.”
Almada was one of four finalists for the top job. The three others were Jason Bollhorst, a police captain with the Newport News Police Department in Virginia; Sean Case, a police captain with the Anchorage Police Department in Alaska; and John Pate, city manager and director of public safety in Opa-locka, Florida.
Case was a finalist to be the next Olympia police chief before the search was put on hold. All four finalists participated in a recent online forum.
Both Almada and Semko previously worked for the Santa Monica Police Department, and both came north after Semko was hired as chief to replace longtime chief Dusty Pierpoint. Almada was hired in October 2019 as deputy chief.
Almada spent 28 years with the Santa Monica Police Department, beginning in 1991 as a patrol officer and rising to the rank of captain in 2017.
He has a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration from California State University, Long Beach, and a master’s of public administration degree in public sector management from California State University, Northridge.
The Lacey Police Chief oversees a department of 77 employees, including 61 commissioned officers.
