Longtime Livingston police officer named chief of department, after 35+ years of service

Chris Soria, who rose through the ranks of the Livingston Police Department over a span of more than three decades, was recently sworn in as the city’s police chief.

Soria, 56, had been serving as interim chief since March, following the departure of Ruben Chavez, who now leads Gustine police.

His career with the department started as a part time reserve officer in 1983.

He explained that one of his main goals as chief is to have an open line of communication with the public. Soria said that comes with reaching out to people, giving out his phone number and listening to what members of the community have to say.

“They live here, we leave we go home. They’re the ones that know what’s going on here and we have to listen to these people,” Soria said.

Merced County native

Soria grew up in Merced, graduating from Merced High in 1982. He explained that he got a bug in his ear to become a law enforcement officer around age 19 while taking classes at Merced College. He started taking police reserve classes at the college and applied everywhere, ultimately going with Livingston police, the first agency to hire him.

In 1989 he moved on from being a reserve officer, attending the Modesto police academy and becoming full time. “They sent me to the academy and I got paid while going there, so it’s just been kind of thing where I’m loyal. You give to me and I’ll give back,” Soria said.

Along the way, he was promoted to sergeant and eventually became a lieutenant in 2006 and captain in 2019. He served as interim police chief from December 2010 to January 2012 after the departure of Doug Dunford.

Soria explained he’s learned a lot during his years serving the community under six police chiefs like Chavez, Bill Eldridge and Harold McKinney.

In 2014, he studied for more than two months at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Va., to learn about leadership, saying it’s probably one of the best things he’s ever done.

He said it allowed him to do a lot of networking and reach out to people.

Plus, Soria said he has had more than 400 hours in gang training alone.

Other goals for department

Although he plans on retiring within a year, Soria is looking at ways to improve relations between law enforcement and the citizens in the community.

Soria said he’s also hoping to start a citizen academy at the department, plus have and environment where officers can go to door-to-door and talk with residents, to provide outreach.

Law enforcement should be transparent to the public, Soria said, and let people know what they’re doing and why they do things. “I think if we in law enforcement try to reach out, I think it will get better,” he said.