Atherton Police Department
Atherton Police Sergeant Joe Wade Promoted to Lieutenant
The Atherton Police Department is pleased to announce that Atherton Police Sergeant Joe Wade has been promoted to Lieutenant. Sgt. Wade was selected to fill the vacancy that was created when then Lt. Mike Guerra was promoted to Police Chief on November 29, 2009. His start date will be July 11, 2010.
The Lieutenant’s position is one of two at-will management positions within the Atherton Police Department. In the past 25+ years, Atherton has had up to four management positions including the Chief. For most of the past 25+ years, there have been two managers (Captains, Commanders or Lieutenants) who function as division commanders plus the Police Chief. We continue to take a fiscally responsible approach where we believe we can continue to provide quality police services to the Atherton community, and maintain our 97% overall customer satisfaction score by Atherton residents with a management staff consisting of the Police Chief and Lieutenant.
The recruitment process for Lieutenant encompassed the following five steps:
1. Position opening was posted and potential applicants were invited to submit an application and resume.
2. From the applicant pool, 16 applicants were deemed “qualified” and were provided a supplemental questionnaire to complete.
3. The answers to the supplemental questionnaire were evaluated and the six most qualified applicants were invited to participate in a series of panel interviews and practical job related exercises.
4. The panel interviews and exercises were held on January 21, 2010 in Town facilities. There were three 30 minute panel interviews that entailed a professional panel comprised of Police Chiefs from within San Mateo County, a panel consisting of Town of Atherton Department Heads (excluding the Police Chief), and a panel comprised of Atherton residents. In addition, practical skill exercises were interwoven between the panel interviews. From these six candidates, three were selected as finalists for the position and invited to the Chief’s interview.
5. The three finalists participated in the Chief’s interview.
Sgt. Wade has been with the Atherton Police Department since 1999, and has been assigned as a Sergeant to both patrol and investigations. In addition, Sgt. Wade had collateral duties as a SWAT operator on the multi-agency Redwood City PD SWAT team, Field Training Officer (FTO), and Defensive Tactics Instructor. Sgt. Wade has spent time as a supervisor with the regional Gang Task Force. As a Police Officer, Sgt. Wade was assigned for several years as a School Resource Officer (SRO). Sgt. Wade is currently the President of the Atherton Police Activities League.
