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Burlingame police Capt. Ed Wood, who has been the interim police chief since December 2009, was officially named to the permanent position Monday.  

Wood assumed the role of acting chief after the retirement of Jack Van Etten. Wood, 47, was asked to take the position of acting police chief for an indeterminate amount of time as Burlingame and neighboring cities study potential shared services. Since then, Burlingame and San Mateo studied possibly sharing services finding it would result in less savings than originally believed. As a result, City Manager Jim Nantell appointed Wood Monday. A badge pinning ceremony will take place 7 p.m. Monday, June 6 during the City Council meeting. 

Wood was thankful for the opportunity. Joining Burlingame meant a bigger challenge for Wood. He is looking forward to the challenge of maintaining the core values of police service in Burlingame in difficult economic times. 

“I have great confidence that Chief Wood’s leadership will continue and even elevate the level of excellence in service provided by the Burlingame Police Department. I am very grateful to Ed and all of the police command staff who stepped  forward to cover additional duties during the past 17 months,” Nantell wrote in a press release. 

Burlingame police officers, who are supportive of the appointment, called for Wood to be named chief about a year ago. 

At the time, Burlingame was considering naming San Mateo Deputy Police Chief Mike Callagy as its interim police chief, a move which would have been a first step in merging the two departments. The council instead opted for further study. Results released last month found sharing police dispatch services offered the highest savings while a complete merger looks unlikely. 

Burlingame police Officer Jim Hutchings, who serves as president for the Burlingame Police Officers Association, said Wood has the full support of the Burlingame police. Hutchings added employees like and respect Wood and have known for some time he was the kind of man who should be in the chief role. 

Wood is married with two children and lives in San Carlos. He joined the Burlingame department two years ago after 21 years in Belmont. Wood came to Burlingame for new surroundings and challenges. He oversees operations, but previously moved up the ranks in the two police departments.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in human services/administration from Notre Dame de Namur University, is a graduate from the FBI National Academy and the Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership course. 

Heather Murtagh can be reached by email: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.