California Police Chief- Fall 2013 | Page 10

Arcadia Chief Bob Guthrie and Monrovia Chief Jim Hunt High-Tech Crime Fighters Chiefs in neighboring cities embrace technology to meet challenges They’re probably tweeting each other. Bob Guthrie and Jim Hunt not only share the distinction of taking over as police chiefs in the adjacent cities of Arcadia and Monrovia within a month of each other this summer, but they als o have similar visions about embracing technology and social media during an era of tight budgets and limited resources. Guthrie, 40, was sworn in as Arcadia’s police chief on Aug. 11, capping a 21-year career with the upper-middle class city of 54,000 located about 20 miles east of Los Angeles. 10 | Behind The Badge Hunt, 54, was named Monrovia’s top cop on Sept. 6. He has been a police officer for 20 years with the city that 39,000 people call home. Both newly anointed police chiefs are looking for ways to run their departments more efficiently and stay as connected to their communities as possible through the use of technology. Over the last few years, the Arcadia Police Department has become regarded as one of the more Internet-savvy police agencies around, with a blog, Facebook page and Twitter