Quick Take
Brian Shab, a 27-year veteran police officer, spoke to Lookout about stepping into a new role as Watsonville’s 17th police chief and his goals for the department during his tenure.
In the two weeks since he was sworn in as Watsonville’s new police chief, Brian Shab feels like he’s hit the lottery. Every person he’s met since on the job has welcomed him with open arms, even the department’s biggest critics.
Shab, born and raised in San Jose, said he always wanted to be a police officer. He served an eight-year stint in the U.S. Army before becoming an officer with the San Jose Police Department in 1998. Over 27 years, he rose through the ranks to become assistant chief.
As he takes the reins of the Watsonville Police Department as its 17th chief, succeeding Jorge Zamora, who retired last summer, Shab is focused on proactively supporting the community through the work that is already being done by officers and reminding those officers why they’re in the job in the first place.
“We’re in the business of helping people at the darkest times in their lives sometimes,” he said, adding that he urges his officers to always be compassionate.
Shab told Lookout that he took the role in Watsonville because he wanted to “get more personal in the job.” As much as he loved his time in San Jose, he wanted to have more personal, one-on-one connections with the community he’s serving — an aspect of the job that seemed to shrink as he rose through the ranks of the department that polices the nation’s 12th-largest city.
“I wanted to go to a city where I could drive down the street and say, ‘Oh, that’s Jimmy or that’s Lisa,’” Shab said. “There’s now a face to the community again.”
Shab told Lookout that he doesn’t want to make Watsonville a mini-San Jose, and doesn’t want his new department to have to conform to him. “My goal is to come here, take my experience and my background to see how I can become a part of the culture and community that exists here and support it in a positive way,” he said.
Police work is police work, said Shab, and no matter what department you’re working for, community members expect and want similar things: safety, accountability and overall trust in the department. What’s different is the ability for departments to hear directly from community members about their concerns.
As he makes his rounds with community groups and leaders, Shab told Lookout one thing residents have made clear to him: They just want their officers to be available. “They want officers to be present. They want them to be compassionate. They want them to understand where they’re at, and where they are coming from,” he said.
He also wants to ensure officers in his department work proactively. For example, rather than just taking an incident report, officers should try to solve the crime and hold people accountable. Additionally, the department should offer offenders diversion programs so they don’t repeat those crimes.
Immigration, Flock cameras and solutions to staffing
For the past year, residents of Santa Cruz County — especially Watsonville — have been on high alert as the Trump administration prioritizes immigration enforcement. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents visited Watsonville at least 15 times in 2025. In January, grassroots organization Your Allied Rapid Response confirmed that ICE agents arrested a resident in the Rodriguez Street neighborhood.
As a newcomer to the department, Shab said he’s observed that most officers support the immigrant community.
“A huge part of this community is dealing with something that they shouldn’t have to be dealing with right now,” Shab said. “They’re trying to provide for their families. They’re trying to work hard.”
The biggest thing Shab can do right now, he said, is to ensure that residents know Watsonville’s police officers are not federal agents. “We don’t enforce federal immigration,” he said.
With a new face at the top comes another opportunity to reiterate to the immigrant community that police leaders will respect the division between federal and local law enforcement. California law doesn’t allow local law enforcement to engage with immigration operations. Watsonville’s policies don’t allow it either, Shab said.
Shab said federal authorities such as ICE are not obligated to notify local law enforcement when they operate in Watsonville, but sometimes they share information for safety reasons, which are called courtesy notifications. However, Shab said he can’t share that information with the public, as that would violate federal law because it could jeopardize an investigation.
“I don’t want to get involved in their investigations,” he said. “It’s shared to make sure that we don’t end up at the same place at the same time,” which could endanger officers or members of the community.
Another issue many Watsonville residents are concerned about is the department’s use of automated license plate reader cameras, and its current contract with Atlanta-based company Flock Safety.
Last September, the city council expanded the use of the controversial cameras despite some residents’ concerns about the company sharing data with immigration authorities. With 37 cameras, Watsonville has the most Flock cameras of any jurisdiction in Santa Cruz County.
Shab told Lookout he believes that the cameras are useful in solving crimes. At a time when most departments are struggling due to short staffing, leveraging this technology in a fair and transparent manner is a game-changer, he said.
“There is, unfortunately, what I believe is some false narratives out there about Flock being used for immigration,” he said. “I will tell you, point blank, if I thought for one second that Flock was being used for immigration enforcement, I would be the first one to shut it off.”
Shab said he has examined Watsonville’s Flock database and processes to ensure there are no violations of departmental policies, and he’s had conversations with the company’s executives, too. “There isn’t a single case, yet, where Flock was used during a civil immigration investigation by ICE,” he said.
Watsonville conducts monthly audits on its system and the audits are reviewed by multiple people within the department, Shab said, while other agencies conduct biannual audits: “I can look you in the eye and tell you that I’m confident that our data is not and will not be used for immigration enforcement.”
The department intends to continue using its cameras for the foreseeable future, Shab said.
During his tenure as chief, Shad also plans to prioritize officer recruitment and retention. He says he believes he can increase staffing by telling the story of the department, of the Watsonville community and why it’s so special.
“I want to show every person out there who is thinking about becoming a law enforcement officer, who is a law enforcement officer, why this is the place they want to work for,” he said.
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