Rod Uyeda

About this talk – The Little Engine That Could

Rod Uyeda tells his personal story of overcoming the barriers of prejudice associated with being the son of Japanese Americans.

About Rod Uyeda

Rod Uyeda is Chief of Police, Manhattan Beach Police Department.

Rod Uyeda was born and raised in East Los Angeles and started with the Pasadena Police Department in 1976 as a police cadet and was promoted to police officer in 1978.

For nearly 30 years, Rod continued to serve the City of Pasadena with distinction, rising through the ranks of Police Agent, Sergeant, Lieutenant and Commander. Rod worked patrol, vice, narcotics, training, traffic and detectives. In detectives, he worked the assaults/homicide desk.

Among Rod’s accomplishments at the Pasadena Police Department, he successfully completed an undercover assignment at John Muir High School at the age of 23, posing as 17 year old senior. Rod also served as a Field Training Officer.

As a Lieutenant, Rod was the service area Commander for the East, West, and Mid-Town service areas of Pasadena and later became the first Lieutenant from the Pasadena Police Department to successfully graduate from the Police Motorcycle Academy.

As a Commander, Rod led the Special Operations Bureau where he commanded Detectives, Traffic, Special Investigations, the Neighborhood Crime Task Force, the Gang Unit, SWAT, Regional Task Forces and Helicopters.

Rod left Pasadena to become the Chief of Police for the City of Manhattan Beach in January of 2006.

Rod possesses a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Science degree in Public Administration from the California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA), where he remains as an advisor to the Public Administration program. He is a graduate of the California Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Supervisory Leadership Institute (SLI) and of the 187th session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Rod is also a graduate of Leadership Pasadena and served on the board of directors for Day One and the Pasadena Ronald McDonald House.

Rod currently is a member of the Manhattan Beach Rotary and the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Drug Task Force.

Rod’s wife, Jennifer, is a police officer for the city of Torrance, where she has worked for over 18 years. They have a son, Ian, and a daughter, Ripley, and reside in Rancho Palos Verdes.