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From facing multiple homicide cases to fully reinstating the department’s traffic unit, Pleasanton Police Chief Tracy Avelar has been working seemingly nonstop in her first year in the role.
But as she reflected on the past year with the Pleasanton Police Department, she had nothing but positive takeaways and said she hopes to continue steering the ship in her own direction while also keeping the core values of the department intact.
“I think I’m different from any other chief that’s been here,” Avelar said during an interview with the Pleasanton Weekly.
Unlike most people who got into law enforcement early in adulthood, Avelar’s journey to policing began later in life.
Avelar said she comes from a big family who moved around a lot. That’s why, when she turned 18, she decided to set out on her own and enter the insurance business where, for almost 20 years, she was happy with her life.
But when her husband died from brain cancer, Avelar said she needed to find a more stable career that paid the bills for her and her three children.Â
She decided to enroll into a police academy where she quickly realized how perfect law enforcement was because of her own experiences with issues like addiction, homelessness and incarceration in her family.
“As a police officer, when I first started, I was able to relate to people as human beings and really look at: what does this person need,” Avelar said.
After joining the Foster City Police Department in 2002, Avelar eventually moved her way up the ranks to become the first female lieutenant, captain and police chief in that city’s history.
Avelar said she was fine with the idea of retiring in Foster City. But that changed when she heard then-Pleasanton police chief David Swing departing in early 2024.
Avelar, who lived in Dublin for years, holds the Tri-Valley — especially Pleasanton — near to her heart. Her children attend school and play sports there, which made the Pleasanton police chief role a perfect fit.
“It just feels like we’re coming home,” Avelar said.
She was officially sworn in on Jan. 8, 2025, becoming the first woman to serve as police chief on a permanent basis in Pleasanton history.
Avelar said after starting on the job, her leadership style required little adjustment beyond accounting for the size and population of the city.
“There’s logistical things that are different, but as far as leading people … it’s the same,” she said. “It’s treating people with respect, making sure that the people inside the organization have what they need and are able to have a voice because if I make decisions for people doing the job, it’s not going to work out well. We need their input.”
As far as what she plans to do at the PPD, Avelar is currently focused on developing and building trust within the organization and succession planning for the future leaders.
“Leadership is everything when you’re dealing with a people-focused organization like a police department,” she said. “If you make the internal part solid and the culture good, then they will go out there and serve the community amazingly.”
But to do that, she said it’s important for the city to continue addressing recruitment and retention efforts. Back in 2023, the department’s police force was so low that it had to temporarily shut down several units including the traffic unit, which has since been reinstated.
Avelar said the challenge for most police departments — and any public sector job — continues to be retaining employees because of things like competitive wages and how officers could go to neighboring cities and get more money there.
“The conversation for any government job right now is centered around the limited number of applicants in every position, not just policing, and the draw (of) how do we get the employees, how do we keep the employees,” she said.
However, she noted that while there are some vacancies, the department is adequately staffed.
Another pressing topic Avelar talked about were multiple homicides in 2025 for Pleasanton, where even one in any year jumps out as unusual and concerning for the community – but a statistic she also sees as an anomaly in the greater context of crime in the city last year.
“The homicides, those were just random and not something that we can change,” Avelar said. “Those are challenging and were both tragic but it’s hard to change that. It’s not like it was some store robbery or something like that.”
“Every single thing is lower in 2025,” Avelar said in regard to the crime statistics, not including homicides, in Pleasanton.
Of note, Avelar mentioned that, when made public, the department’s 2025 crime statistics will appear to be higher due to a reporting change.
The city shifted from the Universal Crime Reporting (UCR) program to the California Incident Based Reporting System (CIBRS) in 2025. This move is significant because CIBRS, unlike UCR which only tracked the highest offense, details every single offense during an arrest or incident.
Avelar emphasized that the seemingly higher 2025 crime data primarily reflects this added reporting, not an actual increase in crime.
Other statistics that Avelar shared were the significant increase in traffic violations and driving under the influence arrests the department made last year thanks to the reinstatement of the traffic unit. She said moving and equipment violations went from 624 to 2174 last year and DUI arrests went from 88 in 2024 to 133 last year.
Avelar said visibility in the community, whether it’s making traffic stops or just engaging with the community, and having the right technology is also important when it comes to the city’s policing.
She pointed to the Real Time Information Center, which notifies officers about a suspect committing a crime in real time. She said by identifying these suspects quickly and arresting them, it deters them from coming back and committing more crimes.
“We’re stopping it from occurring over and over and over again,” she said. “If we can stop someone from coming to Pleasanton because they’re like ‘Oh I’m not going there, I’m going to get busted,’ then good. Don’t commit crime here.”
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