Cerritos’ New Sheriff Captain longs for closer ties with Community

Captain Keith Swensson leads Cerritos Sheriff’s Department.

By Rico Dizon

“Keeping peace and order effectively is achieved through closer relationships and flowing communications between the Sheriff Station and the Community.”

This is the personal belief the new Cerritos Sheriff Station Captain Keith E. Swensson keeps in high regard and considers as his guiding work philosophy during an exclusive interview with Los Cerritos Community Newspaper in his well-organized office.

Looking more like a suave corporate executive in appearance and demeanor, Capt. Swensson said, “I sincerely wish that everyone in the community can get in touch with me, my team and my staff just about anything that pertains to law enforcement and security.”

He noted that he keeps his communication line open to everybody in the Cerritos Community including the use of language interpreters for the City’s multi-diverse residents. To prove his point he voluntarily gave all his social media available as follows: www.facebook.com/cerritos sheriff station, website: www. cerritos.lasd.org, twitter: @CERLASD or @LASDKEITH as well as his personal e-mail: [email protected].

“I want the community to be very comfortable in partnering with us like a family and report any suspicious occurrences,” he stressed.

Swensson continued, “In terms of security patrols, we are patrolling every street, public place and school in the community day in and day out.”

“We are equipped with the latest in technical communication tools like mobile digital computers. Our response time is 3 minutes at the most,” the Captain said.

Swensson said that Cerritos is one of the safest cities in the Southland and perception has a lot to do with overall safety in the area. He clarified, “although the crime rate differs every week, every month and year, today when compared from before, the City of Cerritos shows a very low Part I crime index.”

The new Cerritos Sheriff Captain has been with the LASD in Cerritos for 25 years.

Prior to his recent promotion, Swensson was Executive Aide to the Assistant Sheriff Marvin Cavanaugh who oversaw all patrol operations, detective divisions and homeland security. He was a lobbyist in the State Capital for the LA CountySheriff’s Department staying periodically in Sacramento for about four years. This job he said gave him the opportunity to be of help in bringing new well-received laws now enforced in California.

As one who is home-grown, Swensson was born in the City of Bellflower and grew up in here in and around Cerritos. He studied at GahrHigh School and completed his Bachelor of Arts at California State University Long Beach where he was the drum major in the university band. At one time he also took a course for Law Enforcement Executive at the FBINationalAcademy in the State of Virginia. He pursued his Masters in Public Administration at the University of Southern California where he met Eriko who eventually became his wife of 16 years now. Both of them played the trombone in the Trojan Marching Band. They have three boys and one girl.

Capt. Swensson recalled his early formative years in Cerritos during which the community was only getting a share in police protection with the Lakewood Sheriff Station. He quickly added, “My dad was actually one of the founders and pioneers in that station. “He was a Lieutenant when he retired.” Even his mom was in the military uniform profession being a Deputy Sheriff of the Sybil Brand Institute for Women. This goes without saying his parents had a great deal of influence in his chosen career.

When asked by LCCN what message he would like to convey to the community his eyes lit up and he smiled, “I am ecstatic to be working with Cerritos in my newly-appointed position and I look forward to many years of serving the community.”