Ian Schmutzler was born and raised in Northern California and brings 28 years of law enforcement experience, including 11 years as a second-in-command and more than 3 years as police chief, to the Bob Murray & Associates team.
Ian began his career in 1997 as a police officer in the City of Oakland, California and after spending three years at Oakland PD, Ian was hired by the Vacaville Police Department in 2000. During his career, Ian worked as an undercover narcotics detective, hostage negotiator, and defensive tactics instructor, among several other specialized assignments.
In 2006, Ian was promoted to the rank of sergeant and in 2011 promoted to lieutenant, which, at that time, was just below the rank of chief of police. Ian was promoted to the newly-created rank of captain in 2014 and oversaw both the Field Operations and Field Support Bureaus in that capacity, as well as, serving as acting police chief in 2021. In January of 2022, Ian was selected by City Manager Aaron Busch to be the permanent Chief of Police for the City of Vacaville.
Throughout his career, Ian has participated in more than 80 public sector hiring and promotional processes as a panelist, a facilitator, a recruiter, and a proctor, gaining valuable experience evaluating leadership capabilities and the attributes of successful public sector leaders.
Ian is a 13-year member of the California Police Chiefs Association and the CPCA Law & Legislation Committee. Ian is a graduate of the California POST Command College, Class 59, where Ian’s Futures Portfolio Project article was selected and appeared in the Dec. 2017 issue of the International Association of Police Chief’s Magazine. In addition, Ian is a graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum Senior Management Institute for Policing and obtained a Executive Post-Graduate Certificate in Law Enforcement Command from the University of San Diego.
Ian graduated from California State University, Sacramento, in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Science degree in the same field of study in 2004.
