Capt Jo Makwana and Lt John White are new to the command staff at San Diego police’s Northern Division and La Jolla, but for each, the post is home. 

There are two new faces on the command staff of the San Diego Police Department’s Northern Division, which includes La Jolla; the faces belong to Capt Jo Makwana and Lt John White, who recently transferred and will oversee and lead operations within the division.

But though Makwana and White are new to Northern Division’s command staff, they’re not new to policing – or La Jolla – and have already spent the beginning of their new positions strengthening their knowledge of the community and their bond with its members.

“The community is so unbelievably supportive,” Makwana said. “It’s just incredible, and it’s so heartwarming to see the connection.”

It’s the focus on facing the community that has Makwana, a UK native with 17 years at SDPD, excited for her new role.

“That’s our role as command staff,” she said. “We are the people that steer the ship, the front line representatives, of the whole command.

“Our goal is to be out in the community,” she said, adding she doesn’t run the division from behind her desk. “You’re going to see us walking around town.”

Makwana encourages community members to approach her and introduce themselves, she said.

La Jolla is home

Capt Jo Makwana (left) and Lt John White

Making community connections is also important to Makwana as she used to live in La Jolla.

“My kids were born and raised here,” Makwana said, adding that returning to where her children were raised and meeting with people who know them – like when she ran into one of her now-adult children’s teachers at a recent presentation at Stella Maris Academy – is a heartwarming experience.

“It’s definitely coming home,” she said. “Every street, the Rec Center, the library, everything has a memory. … I just never worked the northern side of the department.”

The opposite is true for White, an Arizona native with 14 years at SDPD, though his new command staff position is still a homecoming: he began his career at Northern Division, working both beach and inland areas in the division for eight years.

“I was very, very happy to be able to come back to Northern,” White said. “It’s like coming home. … I know the beach, all those areas.”

Makwana and White returning to Northern Division and La Jolla is also a reunion; the two have worked closely together in various parts of the department intermittently for several years.

“John and I are really very excited, not only to be working together again, but to be working together at Northern Division,” Makwana said.

Community and command: A collaborative effort

Their already-established working relationship means Makwana and White are quickly implementing new leadership strategies for Northern, leaning into the already-established community involvement between the public and the department.

“We have a really strong Captain’s Advisory Board and … really strong collaboration,” Makwana said. “Everybody works together as a team.”

She and White will community meetings as past command staff did and make a concerted effort to be out and about in La Jolla and other Northern Division neighborhoods.

“If you see us on foot, we want to meet people,” she said.

Noting “we see people on their worst day,” Makwana emphasized the importance of meeting community members casually to get to know them, adding she will encourage the same from officers on duty, when they can, to get out on foot and greet community members.

“Show that human side, that human connection,” Makwana said. “We all have one goal: to make sure the community is safe.” 

White looks forward to his role as a resource for the community, connecting people with the right people if an inquiry isn’t a police issue.

The two will also lead the division to continue to educate as they enforce.

Education begins at contact, Makwana said; explaining to someone why they’re being pulled over, for example, is critical to police work.

“Any enforcement has an educational component to it,” she said.

And as La Jolla has an abundance of tourists who may not be familiar with local laws, White said, education is often the first step before a citation.

Moving into La Jolla’s busiest seasons

Makwana and White have begun gearing up for the annual influx of visitors and beachgoers, starting next month with various schools’ spring breaks and rolling into the summer months. 

Northern Division is “a very well oiled machine when it comes to beach operations,” Makwana said. “We are absolutely the blueprint for how to run beach operations in a coastal community.”

Those operations include upstaffing the beach teams and patrols, training personnel and meeting with San Diego lifeguards and other stakeholders to coalesce plans. 

“We’re going to be very busy,” Makwana said. “We’re definitely staying put for a while.”

To reach Capt Makwana, email jmakwana@pd.sandiego.gov. For Lt White, email jawhite@pd.sandiego.gov.