SAN JOSE — Anthony Mata, who has served as San Jose’s police chief for about three years, is ending a nearly three-decade tenure with the San Jose Police Department to head investigations at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, officials announced Tuesday.
Mata has agreed to serve as chief of the investigations bureau at the DA’s office beginning April 1, taking over for the recently retired Moises Reyes. DA Lt. Melisa Meyer has been selected to lead the bureau until then.
In his new role, Mata will lead a team of about 90 sworn police investigators who typically conduct criminal probes in tandem with prosecutors, and will report to District Attorney Jeff Rosen. That is a considerably smaller footprint than the roughly 1,200 officers he commanded as police chief.
“This decision was not easy, but after careful consideration, I believe it is the right time for me to embark on a new role with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office,” Mata said in a statement Tuesday. “I am incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement I have received throughout my career. It is the collaboration with the residents, community leaders, city administration, mayor and council, and countless department members.”
Rosen said Mata’s pedigree and local experience will elevate the investigations bureau in the DA’s office.
“We share a vision of a criminal justice system that is safe and fair for all,” Rosen said in a statement. I could not be more pleased that our public safety team is attracting leaders of Chief Mata’s national stature.”
City Manager Jennifer Maguire said in a statement that “details on the recruitment process and his interim replacement will be forthcoming. The goal is to announce an interim chief of police and begin the recruitment process before Chief Mata retires in March.”
It should be noted that one finalist from the last San Jose police chief search in 2021 — after Eddie Garcia retired and later became police chief in Dallas — is still with SJPD: Deputy Chief Heather Randol.
Since being appointed as San Jose’s top cop three years ago after a contentious competition between several internal candidates, Mata has sought to institute a transparency push in the police department amid a string of officer misconduct scandals.
Those included the fentanyl overdose of an officer in 2022, and the arrest of another officer on allegations he was caught masturbating while working a domestic disturbance call, the latter who Mata personally walked out of police headquarters in a public showing that SJPD posted on social media. During that same stretch, a separate officer was found to have come to work drunk during an intensive search for a kidnapped child.
Mata has availed the department to an independent audit into SJPD’s hiring and backgrounding practices, and random audits of officers’ body-camera videos. He has also voiced support for changing state law to allow police agencies to publicly release names and details about officers involved in high-profile misconduct without running afoul of rules protecting personnel information and officer privacy.
That latter stance gained particular resonance during a particularly ugly scandal that surfaced in November, involving former officer Mark McNamara, who resigned after internal affairs investigators uncovered a trove of racist texts that he sent to another active officer and a former officer. The texts, in which McNamara viciously insults a Black man who he severely injured in a controversial shooting last year — as well as the wounded man’s legal team — were discovered during a separate criminal conduct investigation that did not yield any charges.
Several civic leaders called for Mata and the department to reveal who McNamara was messaging, given that their potential racial animus could affect the credibility of criminal charges based on those officers’ past arrests. The county Public Defender’s Office has said it is examining criminal cases in which McNamara served as a central witness, and wants to do the same for the other people involved in the text message chain.
From the time he authorized the department to release the racist texts, Mata has said he was legally prohibited from releasing the identities of the two people corresponding with McNamara, who has been put on track for state decertification that would prevent him from becoming a police officer elsewhere in California.
But last week, under a federal court order, the city turned over more of McNamara’s text messages and the other officers’ names to the attorneys of K’aun Green, who is suing the city and police department after McNamara shot and wounded Green in March 2022 following a taqueria brawl in which Green was a peacemaker. Many of McNamara’s racist texts insulted Green and his legal team.
Related Articles
Even at $112,000 starting pay, fewer people want to be San Francisco cops
Former Bay Area education official sentenced for lewdness with child
Oakland officer murder suspect’s mom released from jail
Tennessee man arrested in connection with East Bay carjacking
Police seek protester who injured woman, burned Israeli flag in East Bay
Last month, the police department released a “strategic plan” outlining its goals for how it planned to rebuild public trust in the agency. It contained several general objectives — bolstering proactive policing, increasing community collaboration, improving equity within the department, modernizing the complaint process, and creating a five-year staffing plan — but did not detail any policy specifics.
Mata, a Chicago native and longtime San Jose resident, joined SJPD in 1996 and earned a master’s degree in public administration at San Jose State University. He rose through the ranks and as deputy chief, he commanded patrol operations and oversaw regulatory units and crime data and intelligence. He stepped into the police chief role with backing from some of the city’s prominent minority community groups.
As for Mata’s predecessor, Reyes’ final year at the DA’s office was under a cloud: NBC Bay Area reported in July, citing unnamed sources, that he was the subject of several workplace discrimination allegations that were sustained by the county Equal Opportunity Division. The NBC report detailed how Reyes is alleged to have made inappropriate comments or insults about women and working mothers, made an offensive remark about a transgender emoji, and mocked a Black prosecutor.
The DA’s office has not responded specifically about the allegations or the EOD report, citing prohibitions against commenting on personnel matters. There has been no public disclosure of any discipline issued.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
