Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester talks about her legacy as retirement looms
When Kathy Lester was sworn in as Sacramento’s top cop in 2022, she was becoming the leader of a Police Department that was facing a crisis of confidence.
Her predecessor Chief Daniel Hahn, who had assumed the role with high expectations as the city’s first black chief, was leaving under a cloud after officers fatally shot Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man.
The 2018 killing ignited calls for police reform across the nation. No charges were filed against the officers, and the city did not fire them. Hahn faced death threats, and said he feared for the safety of his children.
The department was also buckling under pressures straining law enforcement agencies across the country: Recruitment rates had plunged after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis, and violent crime rates were skyrocketing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just a few months after Lester was sworn in, six people were killed in the worst mass shooting in the city’s history. An additional 12 people were injured during the gunfight, which prosecutors said involved gang members in a conflict that ignited at 10th and K streets after nearby bars and nightclubs closed.
Sacramento’s first woman police chief, who announced her retirement Monday after more than 32 years with the force, leaves a department in a different state.
“She met those challenges head on, without hesitation or without any real major setbacks that I could point out to and say she betrayed the community’s trust,” said Berry Accius, the founder and chief executive officer of nonprofit Voice of Youth, which has advocated for police reform for years.
Violent crime rates, including homicides, dropped significantly after Lester took the role. Community policing advocates praised her effort to answer phone calls and questions at all hours. She met with residents face to face and responded to her critics, said Mervin Brookins, CEO at Brother 2 Brother Mentoring, an organization dedicated to helping at-risk young men make positive life choices.
Lester leaves as the City Council looks to make cuts to balance its budget for the third consecutive year, but she brushed aside concerns about her departure amid difficult budget conversations. She said she has complete faith in the department’s leadership team.
This was the right time for her, she said.
“This job is very consuming, I’ve missed some quality time with my family,” she said in an interview Monday afternoon.
“I certainly don’t regret that. I’m proud that they’ve been with me along the way. But I would be remiss if I didn’t say I was looking forward to being a mom of my three kids. Even though they’re grown-ups, they still need mom, right?”
Who is Kathy Lester?
The path for Lester to law enforcement was not linear.
A Sacramento native who grew up in Rancho Cordova, she dropped out of Cordova High School and joined the Army in 1991 at age 17. She learned Russian, serving as a military interpreter, combat medic and range master.
She worked many odd jobs – from custodian to making dough at Pizza Hut – before joining the Police Department in 1994 as a dispatcher.
She worked in nearly every department, but she didn’t dream of becoming the top cop.
“I never saw myself as the chief of police,” she said. “That was very new for me.”
Lester’s tenure of four years in the role is not unusual. The three previous police chiefs served from three to about five years on the job.
Sheriff Jim Cooper lauded Lester’s leadership capabilities, work ethic and caring nature.
The job of a police chief requires a different type of political acumen. Unlike the sheriff, which is an elected position, Lester’s position is appointed. She answers to ten bosses: the city manager, the mayor, and eight council members who represent vastly different parts of Sacramento.
Cooper said the politics hampered her work. Lester was “forced to work with one hand tied behind (her) back” to address homelessness, he said.
“She could have done so much more if she had the flexibility,” Cooper said. “Anyone that says anything different is on a different planet. I’ve seen it firsthand.”
Success and challenges
Lester credited the drops in crime, one of her proudest achievements, to a more targeted department approach. She also said she increased transparency.
During the interview, Lester credited building relationships with community organizations to help reduce violence. They both built a model focused on deterring crime through analyzing data.
A small number of people, in a small geographic area, are responsible for most violent crime, she said.
From 2022 to 2025, homicides and shootings dropped respectively, 22% and 24.7%. Motor vehicle thefts plunged 37% in the same time period, according to data shared during a February City Council meeting.
Accius, who has pushed for police reform, lauded Lester for her willingness to talk. “She was always a phone call, a text message away.”
Lester listened to his critiques, he said.
“I really do actually have a high level of respect for her in that nature,” he said.
Lester cited the city’s budget woes and staffing as a perennial challenge for the department. There are 650 sworn officers, far fewer than the allotted 733 positions, she said.
The Police Department has also faced scrutiny for using vacant positions to help pay for sworn officers working overtime. Last year, the agency paid more than $15 million in overtime.
What’s next?
Deputy chief Zachary Bales will become interim chief after Lester retires on May 15. He joined the department in 2002 and has worked in a wide variety of roles.
He will preside over the department as City Manager Maraskeshia Smith and the City Council work to close a $66.2 million budget deficit.
To help balance a budget, the Police Department has proposed cutting vacant jobs and well as positions in the Office of Public Safety Accountability and ending a text and email service for victims known as SpidrTech. A school program teaching high schoolers about law enforcement could also end.
Lester said the next leader must also be transparent, “think outside the box” and meet challenges.
In her retirement, she will turn her attention to being outdoors and spending time with her family.
Her husband has been “patiently waiting for five years to finish this last piece of my career,” she said.
This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
