Crime & Safety
SMPD Chaplain Retires
Chaplain Clarence Crites has spent 35 years with the Santa Monica Police Department. He and his wife are retiring to Oregon.
After serving the Santa Monica Police Department for 35 years, Chaplain Clarence Crites retired Wednesday.
In the early 1980s, Crites became one of two official chaplains for the police department. In 1989, when the senior chaplain retired, he became the department’s sole chaplain. During his time on the force, Crites expanded the police department’s chaplaincy program to include ministers of different faiths and served both police employees and members of the community during times of need or periods of crisis.
Crites, who also served as a senior pastor for the Church of the Nazarene for 35 years, was honored at a luncheon with proclamations by Assemblyman Richard Bloom and Santa Monica Mayor Pam O'Connor.
O' Connor wrote that Crites exemplified the highest quality service standards any organization could hope for.
"His dedication to his fellow man, the Santa Monica community, his church, and to all those in need is exemplified by his words, deeds, and character,” she wrote.
Crites and his wife, Judy, will be retiring in Oregon to be near family.
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