Mindy Casto is now wearing four stars on her collar after serving as Fresno’s acting/interim police chief since last June.

Mayor Jerry Dyer announced her promotion at a Thursday morning news conference at City Hall.

“Since she became the interim police chief department, morale has increased dramatically, while crime has decreased significantly in the city of Fresno, I am fully confident that these trends will continue under the leadership of Police Chief Casto,” Dyer said.

Casto becomes the 24th chief in city history and its first female chief.

“I know that much is and will be expected of me. And I plan to live up to those expectations,” Casto said.

Her top priorities are preservation of life, increased service levels, and improved professionalism.

She addressed becoming Fresno’s first female chief.

“The culture at Fresno PD has never made me feel for a moment that that’s been a burden. You know, through Mayor Dyer’s leadership and the women who came before me, all those barriers were broken. And it’s made it really easy for me to compete for promotions and assignments based on merit and how hard I work,” Casto said.

Casto accepted the job offer and officially started as chief on Tuesday. A Central Valley native, Casto joined the Fresno Police Department in 1997 as an officer. She received several promotions during her career, earning the rank of deputy chief in 2022.

She is married to Sgt. Steve Casto. Their son, Brenden Casto, is also an officer.

14 Apply, Three Finalists

Dyer said 14 applicants applied and the field was narrowed to three finalists. The number of applicants were fewer than normal, Dyer said, a possible sign of the times in regard to police management jobs.

Casto aced her Zoom interview with Dyer and a panel that included City Manager Georgeanne White, members of the city’s personnel department, and the lead recruiter with firm Public Sector Search and Consulting.

Dyer said Casto has the qualities necessary for a chief  — competent, capable and compassionate. He said Casto handled several crises well since becoming interim chief.

“Chief Casto excelled during the interview process, answering each and every question with clarity and confidence and clearly, clearly separating herself from the other two candidates,” Dyer said.

Dyer did not name the other finalist, but described one as a former chief of a mid-size Nevada city and the other as a former East Coast chief.

He said a homegrown chief is a plus. Dyer, a former Fresno police chief himself, offered advice.

“Do not make a decision simply to keep your job. To not worry about that. We support her as our chief,” Dyer said.

The mayor said there wasn’t as much of a “buzz” in this search, as there was in finding his successor in 2020-2021.

“There seemed to be a sense of internal support and external support for Chief Casto, and people were comfortable with her in the in the position of police chief. Like I said, I, I actually didn’t hear one person in the entire eight months tell me that we needed to promote somebody other than Chief Casto,” Dyer said.

Search Started Last October

The search started in earnest last October when the city held four community meetings to gather input on the chief selection. The deadline to apply was Jan. 3.

Casto became acting then interim chief last summer when the city placed Paco Balderrama on leave for reports of having an affair with the wife of an officer under his command. He later resigned.

She said she does not anticipate making those same mistakes.

“It’s a hard question to answer because we’re different people. That’s not something I’m worried about happening,” Casto said. “I’m worried about doing a good job here for everybody in Fresno. I’ve been married for quite some time, as you know, to another Fresno police officer. And I don’t anticipate any of those problems now. I anticipate plenty of problems, just not those same problems.”

Casto had support from the police union and City Council President Mike Karbassi. Major crimes such as homicides are significantly down over the last four years, Dyer said.