Richmond police Asst. Chief Timothy Simmons has been named the city’s new police chief, City Manager Shasa Curl announced Tuesday in a press release.
Curl formally introduced Simmons as the incoming chief, succeeding Bisa French who is retiring, during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“I am honored to serve as Chief of Police for the Richmond Police Department. I look forward to continuing my service to the Richmond community,” Simmons said in the release.
Richmondside spoke with Simmons during the council meeting. He said that, though he grew up in Vallejo, Richmond is like a second home.
“I spent a lot of my childhood actually coming to Richmond,” Simmons said. “The Hilltop mall, ice skating rink. I played soccer and sports here in Richmond. I met my wife here in Richmond. I have tias and tios (aunts and uncles) that still live in this city. The roots are here.”
He added that the new appointment is personal for him.
“When you have family and roots here, you want people to police the community and guard the community because you know your own family is there,” he said. “I’m excited about being able to bring that level of understanding to the officers that, just because they may not have a family here, I want them to understand that everything’s impacting somebody’s family. You have to feel that and you have to understand that and if you’re just a ‘clocking in, clocking out’ kind of person, I don’t know if we’re going to get along very well.”
Simmons, who has served with the Richmond Police Department for 17 years, will officially assume the role Jan. 17, 2026 as Bisa French, who has served as chief since 2020, retires. According to an email from the Family Justice Center, she will assume the role of executive director there in March.
Simmons’ appointment follows a recruitment process that included input from community members, city staff and local officials through interview panels.
“Simmons brings the experience, vision, and commitment to community-centered policing that will help move Richmond forward,” Curl said in the statement. “We are confident that under Simmons’ leadership, the department will continue strengthening trust, transparency, and public safety alongside RPD staff, Richmond residents, businesses, and community partners.”
Simmons’ appointment also comes at a unique time for the department and policing across the nation in the years after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Richmond has also had to deal with a declining police force in recent years with a Contra Costa Civil Grand Jury report detailing what it found were critically low staffing levels.
Even if all positions were filled, the grand jury said, the police department would still be short staffed.
Simmons said that addressing staffing in the department will be his “No. 1 priority.”
“I want Richmond PD to be a place that attracts the right people that want to come here and be good quality police officers,” he said.
Simmons began his career as a beat officer before advancing through the ranks to sergeant, lieutenant, captain and assistant chief. He has participated in some city initiatives, including the Community Safety Academy, and served as the department’s representative to the Richmond Reimagining Public Safety Community Task Force, which was established in 2020 after Floyd.
He said he hopes that by attracting more officers into the department’s ranks, the department can get back to having “community-based” officers that are known by their neighborhood councils and are engaging residents consistently.
“We used to have that once upon a time,” Simmons said. “I remember when I started 17 years ago as an officer in my beat that I worked, I knew that neighborhood council, not just the president, but the members. I knew the people in that community and when I started my shift that day I would see them out in their front yard or drive to work. There was an accountability right away where they knew I was aware of what their issues were.”
Simmons is also the current vice president of the IFPTE Local 21 Executives chapter.
He earned a master’s of science degree in Public Safety Leadership from the University of San Diego and holds certifications from several law enforcement associations. including the California Peace Officer Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Richmondside submitted a California Public Records Act request in November for a list of the police chief applicants and the job description and salary for the position but the city has not provided those documents.
According to the city’s website, the chief’s base salary ranges between $20,780.42 to $25,975.46 per month.
