Jennifer Tejada, MS
Chief Jennifer Tejada (Ret.) served for 26 years in municipal law enforcement. During her tenure, she created programs and/or worked in a leadership capacity in several specialized areas including community policing programs, juvenile justice reform, threat management, emergency & disaster preparedness, workplace violence prevention, domestic violence and sexual assault prevention, and hostage negotiation. She has also served on several violence prevention and victim services committees, boards, and commissions both locally and in the State of California.
Chief Tejada (Ret.) continues to be a strong advocate for building trust and community partnerships, working closely with public and private entities to deliver efficient and quality service to all community members.
Chief Tejada (Ret.) spent the last decade of her career tirelessly advocating for the inclusion of Mindfulness-based Resiliency, and Compassion Cultivation training in Officer well-being programs. In October 2018, she successfully advocated to the California Commission of Peace Officer Standards & Training (POST) to develop and expand course offerings in police officer wellbeing, and to include concepts such as Mindfulness and Compassion Cultivation. She also introduced this concept to the California Police Chiefs Association and spearheaded the development of the “Taking Care of the Human Behind the Badge” program.
Chief Tejada (Ret.) is certified as a Mindfulness Trainer for First Responders. She continues to speak regularly at local, regional, and national levels advocating for training that provides the skills and tools first responders need to successfully navigate through the stress and trauma of this profession.
Chief Tejada (Ret.) served as the police chief in Sausalito from 2011 to 2015, and as the Chief of Police for the City of Emeryville from 2015 before retiring in June of 2020. After retirement, she joined Apple Inc. as a Manager in Global Security.
Education and Executive Training and Affiliations
- University of California at Berkeley, Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology
- University of San Diego Master of Science in Public Safety Leadership
- West Point Leadership LAPD Program Graduate and Instructor
- POST Executive Certification
- Senior Management Institute for Policing, Police Executive Research Forum
- POST Executive Development Certificate
- POST Law Enforcement Chief Executive Certificate
- California Police Chiefs Association -Director at Large
- University of San Francisco Law Enforcement Leadership Symposium Committee
- State of California Sexual Assault Victims Services Commission -Member
- International Association of Chiefs of Police – Education and Training Committee – Member
- University of California at San Diego Center for Mindfulness – Certification in Peer Coach Mindfulness Resilience Training