Stephen Schluer — whose interest in serving his community was piqued as a young teen cadet with the Manteca Police Department — is now the permanent leader of the 76-officer agency.

The 50 year-old Schluer has been appointed police chief by City Manager Toni Lundgren after serving as the department’s interim leader since Dec. 16, 2022.

“I grew up in this exceptional law enforcement organization and over the last 27 years I have been proud to serve and protect this incredible and diverse community whose support and love for their police officers has never wavered, “ Schluer said.

“I’m humbled for this opportunity and energized to lead the outstanding team that I work with into the future and ensure we will deliver unparalleled service to our community through engagement and partnerships, cutting-edge technology, and data-driven policing while providing a safe and healthy environment for staff to work in.”

Schuler has never waned from his desire to make the community he was born and raised in better.

“I chose to stay in Manteca,” Schluer said. “I was born and raised here, wanted to raise my family here and make (Manteca) a better place.”

Schluer wasted no time doing that.

Twenty minutes into his first day on the job as a police officer in 1996 after a 6:15 a.m. briefing and as he was going through his patrol unit inspection, he was dispatched to a home invasion robbery in progress on Kings Lane.

Over the years, Schluer has been part of a department effort that has enjoyed success in dealing with crime as Manteca has grown.

Residential burglaries that peaked at 323 in 2008 were down to 66 in 2022.

Vehicle thefts that reached a crescendo of 798 in 2006  were down to 265 in 2022.

“I like knowing that it is relatively safe to live in Manteca,” Schluer

A self-described “numbers guy”, Schluer noted that in some crime categories in raw numbers show incidents are up.

But when growth is taken into account — Manteca since Schluer started as an officer has gone from 47,000 residents to being on the cusp of a population of 90,000 — crime per capita has dropped.

That doesn’t mean the department is backing off.

Far from it.

Schluer noted Manteca gets credit for starting California’s first organized retail crime unit — even though it is just one detective.

The detective is effectively working with loss prevention officers for retailers, frontline patrol officers, and the district attorney’s office to make arrests and deliver ironclad cases to prosecute,

“The reason why we are getting a bit less organized retail crime than other cities is because the word is getting out that we have an organized retail crime unit,” the police chief said.

Schluer said the biggest challenges his department is facing — just like other law enforcement agencies across California — are changes in state law.

He pointed to one such example  — the bid to decriminalize psychedelic drugs such as mushrooms.

“There are things that were felonies when I started as an officer that are now misdemeanors,” Schuler noted, adding that means there are crimes that have a serious impact on people’s lives as well as their security and sense of safety that aren’t being addressed except by writing a ticket.

A prime example was raising the threshold  for theft to be treated as a felony from $450 to $950.

The police chief believes the surge in organized retail theft, smash and grabs and such, is the direct result of that move given there are counties that no longer prosecute thefts under $950 and simply issue citations.

Schluer said that isn’t the case with San Joaquin County DA Ron Freitas who is following through on his promise to persecute crimes “to the fullest extent of the law.”

The department has 114 employees — almost exactly a quarter of all municipal workers.

Of those, 76 are sworn officers while four are non-sworn community service officers.’

Among the 76 officers are now two dedicated community resource officers tasked with homeless issues. They are also in charge of revamping the Neighborhood Watch and Business Watch programs to develop closer working relationships with the community in a bid to prevent, deter and prosecute crime.

Matthew Smith recently joined Mike Kelley as a community resource officer.

Schluer said the department can always use additional police officers.

But at the same time, he believes it is important to use what officers the department has in the most effective manner possible.

As such, Schluer has played a pivotal role in spearheading various enforcement, educational, and community-focused initiatives within the Manteca Police Department.

The efforts encompass the implementation of robust department wellness and peer support team programs, the expansion of the Community Resource Officer program, and dedicated endeavors in preventing Organized Retail Crime.

Additionally, Schluer has championed Manteca’s Every Fifteen Minutes program, steered the development of a reserve K-9 program, and initiated the impactful Healthy Room Project through Project Blue.

He also actively participates in several non-profit governing boards, including the Child Abuse Prevention Council of San Joaquin

Schuler’s commitment to addressing the needs of youth are underscored by his service at one time  as the department’s point person on crimes against children.

That manifested into his service on the Manteca Unified school District board as a current trustee.

Even though he was brought on as a police cadet in 1987 when he was a young teen, Schluer’s inclination was to become a teacher or a lobbyist.

He ended up studying for government and economics at Sacramento State

While in college Clay DeFreitas, a friend and police officer at the time, steered him toward law enforcement.

DeFreitas asked Schluer why he wanted to get into teaching and Schluer replied to serve and help his community. DeFreitas said that was what he was doing as a police cadet.

Schluer ended up taking  criminal justice classes as an elective.

He credits that conversation with DeFreitas starting him down the path to becoming Manteca’s newest permanent police chief.

At age 23 in 1996, he became a Manteca Police officer trainee.

His field training officer was Ralph Colin and his sergeant was Clancy Rogers.

“His extensive years of experience have not only honed his leadership skills but have also equipped him to continually enhance the performance of our Police Department,” Mayor Gary Singh said. “Chief Schluer's deep roots in Manteca as a local resident further solidify our confidence in his ability to be an exceptional leader for both the department and our city.”

During his tenure in Manteca, Chief Schluer has worked on a variety of assignments including Patrol, Field Training Officer, Traffic Officer, Investigations Unit as a Child Abuse/Robbery/Homicide Detective, Delta Regional Auto Theft Taskforce (Delta RATT) Detective, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain leading significant divisions in the Police Department and lastly served as the Interim Police Chief.

Schluer possesses a Bachelor of Science in Government and minored in Economics from California State University Sacramento. He attended the academy at South Bay Public Safety Training Consortium. Additionally, he participated at the FBI-LEEDA Executive Leadership Institute.

Schluer and his wife live in Manteca with their son Collins while their daughter Lela is away at college at the University of Alabama.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email, dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com