Daniel Hahn
Sacramento Police Department
Sacramento, CA USA
"You never know when opportunities are going to arise. As long as your bags are packed, regardless of when that opportunity arises, you’ll be able to take it, should you want it. I always make sure my bags are packed."
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Daniel's work combines: Law, Business, and Helping People
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Growing up, I didn't have a very favorable opinion of the police due to my neighborhood and surroundings. I just never heard anything positive about them. There is an inherently negative aspect of this job when you grow up where I did. All I saw was the negative part. Once I started working as a police officer, I saw it all from a new perspective.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Business Administration and Management, General
California State University, Sacramento
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
As a baby, I was put up for adoption by my parents, who were young and couldn’t cope with the responsibilities, or—as a biracial couple—the societal pressures of the time.
2.
At three months old, I was adopted by a white couple; my mother had a lot of love to give and wanted to adopt a child that wouldn’t have otherwise been adopted.
3.
My adoptive parents moved us to the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento, CA—a predominantly African-American neighborhood—so I could grow up around people that looked like me.
4.
While attending Sacramento City College as a business major, a friend convinced me to take a criminal justice class, which is where my interest in law enforcement began.
5.
When I was 19, I entered the police academy—my plan was to serve as a community service officer until I finished college, and then quit to start my own business.
6.
At 21, I was promoted to a full police officer, and eventually graduated from California State University, Sacramento with my bachelor’s degree in business.
7.
I got the opportunity to start a police academy at a local high school—that’s when I realized that being a police officer could open doors for me to do the community service work I’d wanted to do.
8.
I am now the City of Sacramento’s 45th Chief of Police, and the first African American to occupy the position.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
Police officers aren't cool, they just arrest people.
How I responded:
Growing up, I didn't have a very favorable opinion of the police due to my neighborhood and surroundings. I just never heard anything positive about them. There is an inherently negative aspect of this job when you grow up where I did. All I saw was the negative part. Once I started working as a police officer, I saw it all from a new perspective.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
My biological parents were a young, mixed-race couple, that couldn't cope with the responsibilities. At the time, mixed-race children weren't adopted often, but I was one of the lucky ones. My adoptive mother had a lot of love to give.
Our neighborhood was not the safest and I witnessed a lot of violence growing up including prostitution, murder, arrests, gang activity, etc.
When I was 16, I was arrested for assaulting a police officer. It taught me some valuable lessons.
One of my stepbrothers got pretty hard into drugs and was murdered in Downtown Sacramento. I was on-duty at the time and had to go identify him. It was definitely a "worst-case scenario" moment for me, but reaffirmed why I chose this career.
The whole reason why I initially went into law enforcement was because of the money. At the time, I really needed it and viewed it as an opportunity to financially better myself. My love of the job came much later.
I am the first African-American to occupy the role of police chief here in Sacramento, which is a big deal to some. My goal is to not make that a big deal. There have undoubtedly been moments of racism, but I am trying to change that in my own way.