City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison announced that Police Department Community Services Specialist Dianne Gonzalez is the recipient of the City Manager Leadership Award for the month of February.
“Dianne was recently promoted to a new role in the Special Investigations Unit where she has excelled at her job,” Farrell Harrison said. “She works diligently to not only make the unit run as efficiently as possible but through her work she also makes the police department, and the City better. I’m grateful she is on our team.”
Gonzalez initially worked for the Costa Mesa Police Department (CMPD) from 1987 to 1991 as a Police Records Technician and a Community Service Officer. In 1991, she went to work as a Police Dispatcher for Irvine Police Department after receiving her Dispatcher certification. She then went to work in the private sector as an Executive Assistant from 1992 to 2006, and returned to CMPD in December 2006 as a Police Records Technician.
Nine years later, in August 2015, Gonzalez promoted to Senior Police Records Technician. As a veteran Senior Records Technician, she was relied upon to train personnel and help organize the yearly case files. In the Records Bureau, she was known to be extremely knowledgeable and experienced, as well as courteous and friendly.
In March 2022, Gonzalez promoted to Community Services Specialist (CSS) and was assigned to the Investigative Services Bureau’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU). In just a year, she has become an invaluable member of the SIU team.
She assists the sergeant and investigators on a daily basis with tasks, including creating and processing criminal court cases into the Electronic Direction for Complaint System (EDC) and preparing court packages for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and City Attorney.
She assists by performing various record checks on vehicles, criminal histories, address locations, and countless Record Management Systems/COP Link searches for investigators, who are often in the field. Her efforts have been a great help in identifying suspects and locations during surveillances and undercover operations.
Gonzalez handles the registration and permitting pertaining to all license massage establishments and therapists within the City of Costa Mesa. She has been able to identify issues with licensed or unlicensed establishments quickly to efficiently address the situation. She has streamlined the owner and therapist permitting process, resulting in a shortened process from two months to two weeks. A number of business owners and massage therapists have expressed their appreciation for her efforts to expedite the process.
Gonzalez regularly communicates with the Costa Mesa Business Licensing in the Finance Department and the California Massage Therapy Council to advise on issues that are discovered.
With the recent approval of Measure Q, SIU became responsible for assisting the Planning Department with marijuana dispensary applicants DOJ/FBI fingerprint live-scan. In this process, Gonzalez reviewed each applicant to ensure they met requirements and have no violating convictions.
Gonzalez is a longtime resident of Costa Mesa and an Estancia High School alumnus. She also attended Goldenwest College, where she received a POST Dispatch Certificate.