Chief Robert Jackson leaves Turlock Police Department

Chief Robert Jackson has voluntarily left the Turlock Police Department, City Manager Gary Hampton announced Thursday afternoon. Thursday was his final day on the job. A police captain has been named acting chief.

“Chief Jackson has chosen to take a break to spend time with family and pursue other career opportunities,” a news release reads.

During his 4 1/2 years as chief, Jackson led the department through a critical time of downsizing, Hampton said. The release says the manager and chief agree “that the future of the Turlock Police Department will take a different path in serving the community and meeting its expectations.”

Capt. Nino Amirfar will serve as the acting police chief. Amirfar began his law enforcement career in 1989 with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, the news release says. He came to the Turlock Police Department in August 1990 and has served in every supervisory and command level role, rising through the ranks until his appointment as captain in July 2015.

Amirfar’s latest assignment has been to head the department’s Special Operations Division. His appointment to acting police chief is effective immediately.

“I am confident the Police Department will continue serving the community at the highest levels of dedicated service and professionalism during this interim period,” Hampton said in the news release.

The city has begun the process to contract with an executive search firm to generate a pool of candidates for the job of police chief. It estimated the search will take four months.

Prior to becoming chief in 2012, Jackson was a captain with the Turlock police for four years and served for nearly 20 years with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department. Jackson was also Waterford police chief from 2005-07, according to his LinkedIn page.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Chief Robert Jackson leaves Turlock Police Department."