At its regular meeting on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, the Duarte City Council appointed current Public Safety Manager Larry Breceda as its new Director of Public Safety.
In this role, Breceda will be heading up the Duarte Public Safety Department overseeing services such as animal control, code enforcement, homelessness programs, emergency preparedness and management, in addition to community safety programs such as Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Neighborhood Watch.
“After 21 years of service to Duarte, Larry Breceda has demonstrated his ability to make an excellent Director of Public Safety for the City of Duarte.” said former Director of Public Safety and current Duarte City Manager, Brian Villalobos. “He brings a wealth of knowledge, background and passion to this new position. He has helped build the public safety program and no doubt will continue to grow our great city.”
Breceda, born and raised in the City of Duarte, began his Duarte career in August 2002 while earning his business degree at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. His degree in technology operations management with an emphasis in government helped him excel in statistics, service operations and utilizing technology to make the service industry of government more efficient.
In March 2013, Breceda began his role as Duarte’s Public Safety Manager. He has established his career on leveraging technology to make processes streamline for residents and staff. As Duarte’s Public Safety Manager for over a decade, Breceda found solutions by identifying inefficiencies with the department and created goals, making operations more fluid and natural in order to serve residents promptly. He has effectively managed department staff while maintaining a team environment, emphasizing team problem solving for the betterment of the community.
“I am standing on the shoulders of giants,” Breceda said. “My predecessor, Brian Villalobos, has done so much for this department and I want to continue the positive trend of community policing and community involvement. I want residents to feel connected to our department, personnel and officers to make it comfortable to share their feedback with us. When you have the recipe of success, you keep that formula and keep multiplying it.”
When Breceda is off duty, he serves as an executive board member of California Association of Code Enforcement Officers (CACEO) and has for 12 years. He also teaches Santiago Canyon College students about public safety, code enforcement, supervisory items and officer safety. Breceda has also spoken for multiple conferences about public safety policies and procedures.