Updated
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Centralia has chosen a new chief of police, and he’s from California.
Carl Nielsen comes from the Turlock Police Department in California’s central valley, where he is second in command.
[1]Carl Nielsen
He was one of five men extensively interviewed in mid-February and introduced to the public following a nationwide recruitment effort.
In a news release today making the announcement, Centralia City Manager Rob Hill asks the public to join the city in welcoming Nielsen, and extending a helping hand during the transition. He starts work here on May 18.
Nielsen previously served eight years as a sergeant at the Tracy Police Department, also in central California, and before that spent 14 years with the San Diego Police Department. He holds bachelor and masters degrees in emergency services administration from California State University, Long Beach.
He has been active with both Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce, according to Hill.
Centralia Police Department Chief Bob Berg is retiring, after 11 years as head of the department with 31 commissioned officers.
Nielsen, 50, said he’s going on eight years at his present department. He and his wife Jan previously purchased a home in Rochester, with an eye toward retiring in this area in the next 10 years.
She trains police dogs and the couple came to know this area through a friend in the same profession who lives in Tenino, he said.
He describes his style as collaboration; not just partnerships, but relationships, he said.
“I discovered early on if you try to do everything yourself, you can isolate yourself,” he said. “And it doesn’t work as well.”
The pay for the police chief in Lewis County’s most populated city was advertised as between about $100,000 and $122,000. Nielsen will be earning $112,656, according to the city.