Manhattan Beach Police Chief Rachel Johnson Brings a Distinctive Blend of Equanimity, Empathy and Disarming Humor to Her Job

Rachel Johnson’s path from her youth in Texas to becoming the Manhattan Beach chief of police is a classic American success story. Throughout her 23 years in law enforcement, she gained experience, honed her craft, paid her dues and steadily rose through the ranks. For the past two years she’s been an unflappable guiding force in the Manhattan Beach Police Department, applying her talent and experience to enhance the safety and quality of life in the city.

Raised primarily by her mother in and around Houston, Rachel credits her success to her strict upbringing, her mom’s high expectations of her and the example her mother set successfully advancing her own career in public service. “I always wanted a job where I could make a difference. Law enforcement seemed like that kind of field,” she shares. “I was fascinated by stories of grit—putting in effort to achieve results. That’s what you need in law enforcement.” 

Rachel spent her freshman and sophomore years studying at Houston’s High School for Law and Justice before her family moved her junior year. After high school, she briefly attended Houston Community College. “I decided I wasn’t mature enough to be in college yet, but I had to figure out what to do instead,” she explains. 

So Rachel enlisted in the Marine Corps. “I’d always admired the military. My grandfather served in the Korean War. It sounded like a good way to figure out my life.” 

She signed a four-year contract and hoped to be assigned to the military police, but at 5’3” she was two inches too short. Instead she became an air control electronics operator, and after three months of job training in Twentynine Palms, California, she was stationed for a year in Okinawa, Japan, and three years at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

“As a young person it was so much fun, but I realized that all that traveling could not continue,” she explains. “I didn’t want to spend my life living out of a suitcase. So I started thinking about my exit plan.” 

Rachel joined the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, went through the academy and was assigned to the maximum security jail. “Being in the jail, I learned to talk to people. Your stock and trade are being able to communicate,” she says. “You learn that everybody has a story.” 

Rachel moved on to the Newport Beach Police Department, where she was promoted to sergeant in 2012 and lieutenant in 2017. She also decided to complete her education and earned her associate’s degree in liberal arts, Bachelor of Science in management, and master’s degree in the administration of justice and security.

In February 2020 Rachel joined the Laguna Beach Police Department as captain, just six weeks before the world shut down. Although typically fire departments handle pandemics, the city manager asked Rachel to be the “COVID czar.” She was enthusiastic but had no public health experience and was new on the job. “I didn’t even know where they kept the pens,” she laughs.

“I always wanted a job where I could make a difference. Law enforcement seemed like that kind of field. I was fascinated by stories of grit—putting in effort to achieve results. That’s what you need in law enforcement.” 

For the next 18 months she was the city’s sole point of contact for the pandemic. “It was A Tale of Two Cities—the best of times, the worst of times,” she says. “We had a crash course in meeting virtually and dealing with constantly changing ordinances. And my direct desk line was listed on all literature. It was chaos.”  

In February 2022 she began interviewing for the Manhattan Beach police chief position. The process took about six months, and on August 8 she was sworn in as the city’s first woman of color to serve as chief, overseeing 120 full-time employees including 72 police officers. 

“In a city like Manhattan Beach, we have a low violent crime rate—mostly perpetuated by people who know each other. Property crimes make up 88% of our crimes. So a lot of our resident concerns are with quality of life, not with crime,” explains Rachel. “Incidents like last year’s robbery at a local jewelry store are the exception rather than the rule. But that means the emphasis must be placed on other things.”  

Beyond her duties as a police chief, Rachel runs half marathons because, as she puts it, “I have the palate of a toddler. I’m just trying to outrun a bad diet.” 

And then there is her most important role: Rachel is mom to two boys and a girl, all teenagers. When asked if they’re proud of her achievements, she laughs and adds, “They’re not impressed by me. When they were young, they’d visit me because of the police cars. But now I’m just a dorky parent. I encourage them to think and have grit. They understand that my job is important, but I don’t think they fully grasp it because it’s me.”