Mayor Steve Mensinger presented former Costa Mesa Police Chief Roger Neth with the Mayor’s Award at the Tuesday Feb. 2, 2016 City Council meeting.

Mensinger noted that Neth was an instrumental figure in the formative years of the Police Department, bringing innovative technology and other best practices to the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Not only was he one of the first three officers hired by the City, but he is credited as being the very first officer on patrol.

And with 22 years at the helm of the Department, Neth is Costa Mesa’s longest tenured Police Chief.

Below is a video clip highlighting Neth’s career.

“I’d like to thank Mayor Mensinger for this honor tonight,” Neth said. “I’m very proud to receive it.”

Neth said the city’s first Police Chief Arthur McKenzie, who urged the officers to follow three principles: be innovative, be progressive and above all be professional.

“We were a new police department so we didn’t have to change old methods,” he said Tuesday night.  “We built on those three principles.”