Paul Cappitelli

Paul Cappitelli is a career law enforcement professional with over four decades of experience. He served with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department (SBSD) for 29 years (1978-2007), retiring at the rank of Captain. During his tenure at SBSD, he held various assignments across all ranks. His command assignments included:

Adelanto Detention Center, West Valley Detention Center, Sheriff's Regional Training Center, and Chief of Police of the Chino Hills Police and Sheriff's Station. He has extensive experience in administration, patrol, traffic, custody, homicide investigation, public affairs, gang enforcement, and academy direction. Additionally, he has completed several hundred hours of formal training related to duties as a California peace officer.

Furthermore, he was appointed as Executive Director for the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) from 2007-2012. In this role, he provided leadership to POST staff in developing and administering training for approximately 75,000 California peace officers and 10,000 professional staff.

Since 2013, Cappitelli has been a public safety consultant, primarily focusing on providing expert analysis in law enforcement civil cases (e.g., use of force, false arrest, pursuit liability, in-custody death). He offers various services to municipal and private clients, including critical incident administrative/personnel investigation support, litigation, assessment of ethics and public integrity issues, development/enhancement of training and administrative policies, analysis of complex problems, public policy advocacy, and strategic guidance. He regularly provides expert opinions on law enforcement matters for radio and television media and contributes content to various law enforcement-centric publications.

Cappitelli holds a Master's Degree (MPA) in Public Administration/Public Policy. He also earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Business Management and an Associate of Arts (AA) in Administration of Justice.