Retired Fresno Police Chief Ed Winchester, who spent 34 years with the Fresno Police Department and rose from cadet to the agency’s top position, has died, the department announced.

Winchester joined the department as a cadet in 1967 and was promoted to police officer in 1970. He later served as a specialist, lieutenant, captain, and deputy chief between 1974 and 1993 before becoming chief of police.

He served as chief until retiring in 2001.

“Chief Winchester served our community for 34 years with distinction and a servant’s heart,” the Fresno Police Department said. “Our Fresno Police Department Family mourns the loss of Chief Winchester and sends its heartfelt condolences to his family while celebrating his life and honoring his leadership and the legacy he left behind.”

Winchester brought much-needed stability to a police department whose previous chief, Joseph Samuels, served just two years before exiting to take over the Oakland Police Department.

Dyer Credits Winchester for Lowering Violent Crime

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, a former Fresno police chief, said Winchester played a major role in reducing violent crime that plagued Fresno during the mid-1990s.

“Chief Winchester was a one of a kind police chief who was tough on crime, but had a heart of gold,” Dyer said.

Dyer credited Winchester with creating the Violent Crime Suppression Unit and deploying the department’s SWAT team to patrol neighborhoods experiencing violent crime and gang activity.

“Chief Winchester was the driving force behind the dramatic violent crime reductions our city experienced in the mid 1990’s,” Dyer said. “His courageous move to create the Violent Crime Suppression Unit and deploy the departments SWAT team to patrol neighborhoods plagued by violent crime and gangs was unprecedented.”

Critics of the VCSU, however, said that it morphed from a policing culture to a military culture and needlessly placed citizens in dangerous situations. The unit, which was the subject of several lawsuits and internal affairs investigations, was later disbanded.

In 2000, Winchester appeared before a Fresno County grand jury to answer questions about the theft of explosives from a Fresno police bunker in the county foothills. Winchester admitted to the grand jury that he didn’t know the bunker existed nor did the department keep an inventory of what was stored there.

Because the theft occurred in late December, it raised community concerns about potential mass act of violence as Fresno celebrated the New Millennium. No violence came to pass and five foothills teenagers were later arrested for the theft.

Winchester Helped Dyer Rise Through the Ranks

Dyer also credited Winchester with helping advance his own career in the department, saying Winchester promoted him through the ranks of lieutenant, captain, deputy chief, and the department’s first assistant chief.

“I owe Chief Winchester a deep debt of gratitude for his hand on my career,” Dyer said.

Dyer said their relationship extended beyond the police department, describing Winchester as both a mentor and friend. The two spent time traveling to sprint car races in the Central Valley and across the country, he said.

“Memories I will cherish forever,” Dyer said.

Dyer described Winchester as a devoted husband, father, and grandfather, and offered condolences to Winchester’s wife, Judy, his daughters, Suzi, Jaime, and Jodie, and his grandchildren.

In Winchester’s honor, flags at Fresno City Hall and the Fresno Police Department will be flown at half-staff for seven days, Dyer said.

(GV Wire’s Bill McEwen contributed to this story.)

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