Q&A

Steve Gesell

He grew up in San Luis Obispo and left to study Justice Administration in Arizona. He worked in the Scottsdale Police Department for 20 years, followed by a brief stint as acting chief in Atascadero. We dropped by for a visit on the sixth day into his “dream job” as the new Chief of Police in San Luis Obispo. As he walked us down the hallway to his office, he stopped to point out an old black and white framed photo that had been hanging for many years just outside of his door…

What exactly are we looking at here, Steve?

You see this guy on the motorcycle? That’s the guy that gave me my first ticket, Officer Pete Hubbard. I absolutely deserved it. It was the last day of my senior year at San Luis High School and I had a ‘70 Plymouth Barracuda. My friends were egging me on saying, “Come on, Steve! Come on, Steve!” I floored it and he caught me right away. He was a really nice guy. Now, I’ve got this reminder everyday hanging outside my office.

Have you found any other reminders from your youth?

I just drove past my old house yesterday; there was some guy there in a robe standing out front so I didn’t bother to stop. It’s on the corner of Broad and Upham. Old Spanish style house, it’s got to be 800 or 900 square feet. Pretty small. When we came here that was the house that my dad could afford. It was really cool, I shared a room with my brother. We were real close to downtown. I always remember walking to school – I went to San Luis Junior High, which doesn’t exist anymore. It’s now the Adult School, I believe.

What brought your parents here in the first place?

As newlyweds in 1959 my parents were visiting this area, and as they were driving from Morro Bay to Los Osos on South Bay Boulevard past the estuary there my mom turned to my dad and said, “You know, if there was ever any way we could get here, and raise our children here, this is where we should be.” Lo and behold, twenty years later my dad got the job as the airport manager here in town. So, we packed up and moved across country before I went into middle school.

What were you like in those days?

I was one of those kids - at least this is how I saw myself back then - I kind of filtered through all of the cliques. I was friends with a lot of different kinds of people, a lot of different personalities. And I think that’s been true throughout my life. I try to respect people for who they are. I played a little football one year, I wrestled one year. Soccer has been my passion throughout my life. They actually didn’t have a team when I was there, but we formed a group to bring it in. The year after I graduated is when it finally started there. I’ve been involved with the Police Games as the goalkeeper.

So, why did you ever leave?

My dad got a job teaching Aeronautics at Arizona State. He left a couple of months after I graduated from San Luis High School. I stayed here. I went to Cuesta for a year. Poly didn’t have a Justice major, so I followed my dad to ASU where I was able to go tuition-free since he was an employee there. I crammed everything I owned into my 1969 VW Bug. I barely made it to Phoenix because I nearly ran out of gas. I didn’t realize that gas stations would be so few and far between out in the desert. It was one of those rare days when it was pouring down rain and I remember thinking to myself, “I should have got gas waaaay back there.”

Take a minute to introduce us to your family, if you would.

Sure – my wife is Nesa. Our oldest is Lauren, she’s in third grade. And, our twins, Nate and Lindsey, will be turning five in April.

Was Nesa on board for all of this?

I had made the same comment to her that my mom had made to my dad in 1959: “You know, if there is ever a way that we can get out to San Luis Obispo, I would jump on it. I would love it. I want to raise our kids there.” She really wasn’t interested in moving. We had a good set up in the Phoenix Metro area, we both had great jobs, great careers, great friends. But, then we came back here for an extended visit and after day two or three – we had just come back from Farmers’ Market. She says to me, “Okay, I’m sold. Let’s figure out how to do this.”

When did you really start thinking seriously about making the move?

I remember very clearly one day, this was probably eight years ago now, when I was waiting for my friend, Doug, who was my counterpart at the DEA to show up at my office. We had been working a case together. Anyway, he was running a little late so I decided to pull up the San Luis Police Department website. Doug finally arrives so I spin around in my chair and he says, “Hey, get back to work! What are you looking at?” He was sort of giving me a hard time. And I said, “You know, I was just kind of daydreaming, I guess.” I told him it would be my dream to end my career as the chief of police in my hometown. I’ve never seen it line up this way. It’s bizarre. I feel like I just happened to be a character in a story.

2/29/12