Chief retires after 30 years serving city
McBride has been acting top cop since 2019; Asst. Chief Green will step in
Acting San Bernardino Police Chief Eric McBride retired Tuesday after 30 years with the city.
The 54-year-old served as acting chief since January 2019.
“San Bernardino has its reputation,” McBride said by phone Wednesday. “What we say in policing is it’s a busy city, and because of that, our police officers have experience other officers in regions around us, and in the Inland Empire, specifically, don’t have.
“There’s always been a lot of pride in being a police officer in San Bernardino. You get a lot of respect from people in other agencies because of the workload in San Bernardino.”
A Marine Corps veteran who served during the Persian Gulf War, McBride began his law enforcement career in the patrol division before being transferred to investigations, according to the Police Department’s website. He also was a member of the auxiliary SWAT team.
McBride was promoted to detective in 2002, sergeant in 2004 and lieutenant in 2011. Three years later, he achieved the rank of captain.
“The city always invested in its employees to develop us,” he said. “I had opportunities to go to a lot of training and get a lot of experience doing stuff to be able to advance my career.”
When former San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan underwent knee replacement surgery in January 2019, McBride filled the role of top cop.
Burguan retired that August. Under McBride, San Bernardino revived Community Oriented Po
licing and Problem Solving, or COPPS, programs and strategies to curb crime and violence by identifying trends in certain areas of town and nipping problems in the bud.
The approach paid dividends, McBride said. “There’s only so many police officers. We need a good working relationship with the community.”
McBride, who lives in Hemet, also commended the Police Department for “investing in our youth and providing them opportunities other than getting into mischief and problems to show them something different.”
“Kids often find out a lot of our police officers come from similar backgrounds, but they made it and they can be successful, have successful careers,” McBride said.
Assistant Chief David Green will temporarily step into the role.