Palo Alto Police Chief Andrew Binder is stepping down as Palo Alto police chief and will be replaced by Assistant Chief James Reifschneider, City Manager Ed Shikada announced today (March 31).
The change is subject to City Council confirmation, which is set for April 6.
The Post reported on Feb. 4 that Binder had been out on medical leave due to a back issue for four months.
At the time, neither Shikada nor city spokeswoman Meghan Horrigan-Taylor would respond to questions about why the public was not told about Binder’s absence. His absence wasn’t publicly acknowledged by council members until the Feb. 2 council meeting when Vice Mayor Greer Stone referred to Reifschneider as city’s acting police chief.
In February, Shikada said Binder is expected to return later that month.
The job pays $363,584.
Binder, 50, has been chief since 2022, taking over the position after then-Chief Bob Jonsen retired to run for Santa Clara County sheriff.
Shortly after becoming chief, Binder unencrypted the department’s radios so the public could listen in to police activities, reversing Jonsen’s decision to encrypt them.
Binder’s retirement announcement concludes a 28-year law enforcement career serving 18 years with the City of San Jose and 10 years in Palo Alto.
In Palo Alto, Binder held several command level executive leadership roles; progressing within the department from Lieutenant to Captain, and two years of experience as Assistant Chief, before serving as Acting Chief of Police and then Chief of Police since August 2022.
“The decision to retire was not an easy one as I am going to miss the everyday interactions with the Palo Alto community, police department colleagues, and City executive leadership team,” said Binder in a statement issued today. “The Palo Alto Police Department is an amazing team of dedicated staff, and over the last 10 years we’ve made progress on key priorities such as department accountability and transparency, enhanced community engagement and communications and advanced new strides with recruitment and staff wellness programs. I appreciate the trust that City Manager Shikada, City Council, the police department team and the community placed in me to lead the department and look forward to continued success of the department under new leadership.”
Reifschneider joined the department in 2005 after working as a lawyer at a Menlo Park law firm.
He would oversee 141 employees, including 86 officers, and a $58 million budget.
“I would be honored to serve as the next police chief for Palo Alto,” said Reifschneider, Palo Alto Police Department assistant chief. “I look forward to continuing to work with the police department’s outstanding personnel, City Manager Shikada, and the City’s other department heads to further strengthen community partnerships and deliver top notch public safety services.”
Reifschneider continued, “Key areas of focus will be fighting crime with the utmost professionalism and integrity, intensifying sworn officer recruitment efforts, engaging our community, effectively sharing public information, and completing the move-in to our state of the art public safety building.”
Reifschneider is a Bay Area native, receiving a Bachelor of Science, Political Science from Santa Clara University, and a law degree from University of California Law SF (formerly Hastings College). Reifschneider is a member of the International City/County Management Association, California Police Chiefs Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, California Bar Association, and attended the Harvard University (Kennedy School) Senior Executives in State and Local Government course in 2024.
Andrew Binder is the gold standard. The best hire this city has ever made. He became Chief on the heels of BLM and several federal civil rights lawsuits against PAPD. Binder reformed PAPD, enacting the measures city council passed. His high standards and integrity strengthened reform.
I am sorry to lose him and wish him well.
That said, the public wasn’t told of Binders 5 month absence which is the opposite of transparent. Nor were we told that Asst Chief Reifschneider had been elevated to Acting Chief, now Chief. Hardly the spirit of reform.
Binder was a HUGE improvement over Jonsen. Binder was not just a figurehead, he improved law enforcement in Palo Alto by using technology, hiring more officers, targeting group retail theft, and more. He’s an intelligent guy who improved our city.
So now we’ll have a Pete Hegseth lookalike. Sounds like he’s intelligent too, appropriate for a city of nerds. We are in good hands.
I hope Chief Binder makes a successful recovery. He was a good policeman and a good human being. Reifschneider is an excellent choice. It says a lot about Binder that he had such highly qualified second-in-command.
Let’s see how long this “disability” retirement lasts. Smart bet says he shows up in less than a year in a different retirement system doing the same job “fully recovered”. Seems there are a lot of administrators that get really banged up their last few years in a chair.
Reifschneider is a solid dude… congrats.