City Manager Aaron Adams announced that Lieutenant Lisa McConnell, a 26-year veteran of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has been promoted to Sheriff’s Captain and appointed as the new Temecula Chief of Police effective August 1, 2017. McConnell is succeeding former Police Chief Jeff Kubel, who served as Temecula’s Police Chief since August of 2013 and was recently promoted to Riverside County Deputy Chief under Sheriff Stan Sniff.
Chief Lisa McConnell joined the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in September 1991. She attended the 119th Basic Peace Officer’s Academy, and began her Sheriff’s Department career assigned to the Robert Presley Detention Center. She later worked patrol at the Lake Elsinore and Southwest Stations. She was then assigned to the Personnel Bureau as a Department Recruiter. She held collateral duties serving as an adjunct Public Information Officer (PIO) and a Crisis Negotiator.
In 2004, McConnell was promoted to Sergeant and assigned to the Corrections Division at the Southwest Detention Center. In 2009, she was transferred to Field Operations and worked a variety of assignments as a Sergeant at the Perris Station, until she was transferred to the Media Information Bureau as the Department’s Public Information Officer. McConnell was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in December 2013, within Sheriff’s Administration. In 2014, she was transferred to the Southwest Station where she held field and administrative assignments.
Chief McConnell holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master of Science Degree in Psychology. She is a graduate of the Supervisory Leadership Institute and resides locally.
“Public Safety is Temecula’s highest priority, and the selection of our Police Chief is equally as important,” stated Temecula Mayor Maryann Edwards. “I have known Lisa McConnell as a highly valued Lieutenant in our Police Department for many years and know she is fully capable and prepared to be Temecula’s next Police Chief. I am so proud that she will continue the exemplary law enforcement and public safety leadership legacies of her predecessors who have made Temecula one of the safest cities in the United States,” added Mayor Edwards.
Temecula City Manager Aaron Adams agreed, “Newly-appointed Police Chief Lisa McConnell is highly qualified and, importantly, notably experienced in Temecula. Adams added, “Having worked several years under the direction of former Temecula Chief Jeff Kubel, she understands the utmost importance we place on maintaining the highest level of public safety and customer service to Temecula citizens and businesses, and I welcome Chief McConnell to our Executive team.”
The City of Temecula contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for Police services. The City is proud of the unprecedented high level of law enforcement staffing and services dedicated to public safety in Temecula, which is now possible given the passing of Measure S (2016).