Menlo Park police commander named San Carlos chief Menlo Park police commander named San Carlos chief (February 02, 2005)

On Valentine's Day, Menlo Park Police Cmdr. Greg Rothaus is scheduled to achieve a long-held goal: becoming a police chief.

After being chosen the new chief of the San Carlos Police Department, he'll be sworn in on that day, returning to the department where he got his start as an officer in 1985. Cmdr. Rothaus' hiring came after a statewide search, said San Carlos City Manager Michael Garvey.

Cmdr. Rothaus, 47, has lived in San Carlos for 14 years and said he is looking forward to returning to a department where he still knows a lot of people, having worked with some on patrol or on cases over the years.

"It feels a lot like going home," he said.

His annual salary as chief will be about $149,000; his salary as a top-level Menlo Park commander is currently $118,000, he said.

While San Carlos has a population close in number to Menlo Park's, the demographics are different in that San Carlos does not have an area similar to the lower-income Belle Haven neighborhood, which has a higher crime rate than the rest of Menlo Park.

Cmdr. Rothaus said he expects that San Carlos will be similar to the west side of Menlo Park from a crime-fighting standpoint.

He joined the Menlo Park force in 1997 as a commander. He has headed the investigations division and was most recently in charge of patrol. He said it hasn't yet been decided who'll take over his position.

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