Hughson gets a new chief of police

Stanislaus County sheriff’s Lt. Larry Seymour has been appointed as Hughson’s chief of police, the department announced Thursday. He was selected by the county and city to replace Lt. Darin Gharat, who recently retired from the county. Hughson is among the small cities that have contracts with the county to provide police services.

Seymour has 28 years of law enforcement experience, all with the Sheriff’s Department. He was hired as a custodial deputy in 1987 and, after 10 years of working in the jails, moved to patrol operations. He has been assigned to patrol, detectives and Internal Affairs.

In 2007, Seymour was promoted to sergeant and has supervised deputies in patrol and investigations. In 2011, he became the chief deputy coroner. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2015 and was assigned to court services.

“I want to congratulate Chief Seymour on his selection,” Sheriff Adam Christianson said in a news release. “I know he will do an outstanding job in representing the Sheriff’s Department and the citizens of Hughson.”

For a couple of years, Gharat split his time as police chief of Waterford and Hughson. That changed in late 2013 when Waterford got its own interim chief of police services as Gharat continued as chief of Hughson.

“The relationship between the city of Hughson and the Sheriff’s Department is a very good one,” Mayor Matt Beekman said in the news release. “Welcome, Chief Larry Seymour, to Hughson. You are now one of us. Our expectation is that you will continue the long tradition of excellent past chiefs that have served our community faithfully and with dedication.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 12:41 PM with the headline "Hughson gets a new chief of police."