Carlos Mestas, 62, says he finds it easier than his wife does
to avoid talking shop.
“She’s a police chief 24 hours a day,” he says. “I can turn it
off, much like turning off a light switch.”
Although the police chiefs have shared wedding vows and
now share the same job title, they are very different people
who oversee law enforcement in two distinct cities.
“She’s a lot smarter than I am,” Carlos Mestas says. “She’s
also a very Type A person who is quick to make up her
mind, while I’m more likely to sleep on things.”
Visalia, in Tulare County, is a city of 124,000 that is
patrolled by 144 sworn officers.
Hanford, in Kings County, is a more isolated, rural
community of 55,000 patrolled by 53 officers.
Carlos Mestas sometimes is asked if it bothers him that his
wife runs a larger police agency.
accept the police chief position in Hanford. He currently
is the director at large on the California Police Chiefs
Executive Board.
With two police chiefs as parents, it’s no surprise that the
couple’s 18-year-old daughter, Illissa, grew up hyper aware
of law enforcement.
Her father recalls driving one day with her when she was
around five. They pulled up to a car driven by a sketchylooking person.
“Dad,” Illissa asked him. “Do you have your gun?”
Alissa recently moved to the Los Angeles area to attend
California Lutheran University. She is not interested in
pursuing a career in law enforcement but rather something
in the communications or advertising field.
“She’s seen all the weekends we’ve had to work,” Colleen
Mestas says.
“As long as she makes more money than me,” he tells people,
“I don’t care.”
Not only does Colleen Mestas have the larger policy agency,
but she also has the shorter commute. The couple lives in
Visalia, which is about 15 miles from Hanford.
The two met when both were working for the Fresno
County Sheriff ’s Department -- she was a deputy, he was
a lieutenant. After about three years of dating, the two
married, in 1991.
And now, with Illissa out of the house, Colleen and Carlos
Mestas have more time to focus on each other instead of
their daughter’s education and water polo practice and
tournaments.
Colleen Mestas has spent most of her life in law
enforcement, starting as an explorer for the Clovis Police
Department. She was hired as a full-time deputy for the
Fresno County Sheriff ’s Department in 1988.
For at least the foreseeable future, though, their careers will
continue to be their focus.
When she became Visalia’s permanent police chief in 2009,
Mestas made history another way, too: as the first female to
ever hold that title in Visalia.
“I’m not thinking about retiring,” Carlos Mestas says. “I just
love this job. The day I come here and I feel ti