| Feature
Story: Reprinted with permission.
The
Bakersfield Californian
June 12, 2004
Section: Local
Page: b1
New chief takes post
STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer
e-mail: sswenson@bakersfield.com
 Bill Rector became the 17th chief of the Bakersfield Police Department
in a lighthearted ceremony Friday, receiving the chief's pin from
outgoing Chief Eric Matlock. Rector, 44, saying that his selection
for the job is both "humbling and exciting," recalled
that 22 years ago to the day, he was being interviewed by a three-member
panel on his application to be a police officer.
The sergeant asked him where he wanted to end up in the department.
His reply, "I don't want to appear too forward, but I want
to be chief."
The sergeant said, "Oh, really?" That sergeant, Rector
said, was Matlock.
City Manager Alan Tandy, who on May 24 appointed then Assistant
Chief Rector to the top job, began the ceremony Friday by saying
it is always an honor to announce "the transition from one
exceptional leader to another."
Matlock, in a moment of feigned sincerity, gave Rector a USC Trojan
head cover for Rector's golf driver. Matlock said he hoped it would
inspire Rector to pick winners.
Rector, a Notre Dame fan, took time to note in the Notre Dame-USC
rivalry, Notre Dame is way ahead. Records show Notre Dame has won
42 games in the rivalry lost 29 and tied five since 1926. USC has
won the last two.
Matlock recalled being a watch commander about 20 years ago when
residents reported there was an officer who needed help in the
Oleander area.
Matlock figured out Rector was the officer who needed the help,
but he couldn't reach him on the radio. That was because Rector
was in a fight for his life with a man who took his radio and tried
to take his gun.
Rector protected himself and the suspect was taken into custody. "
At the time, I thought we lost Bill Rector," Matlock said. "But
he showed me what he was made of." And now Rector is chief of a department whose challenges include
rising crime, tight budgets, an unprecedented departure of top-ranking
officers, and an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice,
focused on complaints of excessive force and racial profiling.
"
No chief stands up here without challenges," Rector said. "We
will get through those things."
He said the department will be more creative in seeking grants
and cooperation with other agencies to hire more officers or use
the current ones more effectively.
That will include an increase in use of crime analysis, made possible
through a new information system spearheaded by Matlock, to put
officers where crimes are occurring.
Rector said he will also institute training systems to prepare
officers more quickly to assume administrative roles. That stems
from recent retirement laws that allow officers to retire at age
50 and receive 3 percent of their annual salary for every year
of service.
He said he will carry on Matlock's community policing and decentralization
programs, which include satellite offices in southeast, southwest
and west Bakersfield, to improve public safety.
 And any changes recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice will
be reviewed and implemented as needed, he said.
Rector said he will continue in the coming days to meet with the
administrative staff of the department to assure a smooth transition.
In his acceptance speech, he said he was pleased to work in a supportive
community and in a department with qualified and committed staff.
He said he would continue to work cooperatively with the City Council
and city manager.
Rector, who is married with two children, said he has always wanted
to be a police officer. He remembered as a reserve deputy working
in the Fresno County Sheriff's Department, a deputy telling him, "Being
a police officer is a very noble and honorable profession."
Rector said Matlock exemplified that description and he wished
him well.
Matlock said it's been an emotional week for him, turning in his
badge and duty weapon, as well as cleaning up files that date back
to the late 1970s, prompting memories of his career. During his last five years as chief, he said he accomplished his
main goals of putting officers more in touch with the community
and increasing their effectiveness with new technology. "
I think that I feel satisfied," he said.
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