Captain Clifford Mathews

Captain Clifford Mathews began his career with the Upland Police Department in 1991 attending the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Academy.  Captain Mathews was assigned as a patrol officer until 1995.  In 1995 he was fortunate to be selected to be one of two officers representing the Department in an exchange with the Victoria Police Department providing service to one of our sister cities, Mildura, Australia.  This exchange involved Captain Mathews working with the police in Mildura for a month and two Mildura officers working in Upland for a month.  In 1995, Captain Mathews was a founding member of the Department’s Problem-Oriented Policing Team (POP).  This team was a forerunner of the current Special Investigations Unit and Impact Teams.

In 1998 Captain Mathews was promoted to detective.  As a detective, he worked most caseloads including homicide, robbery, crimes against children, sex crimes, and commercial theft.  Additionally, he was the third detective in the County and first in Upland assigned to the investigation of high-tech crimes.  This included conducting forensic exams of computer data and online crimes.

In 2004 Captain Mathews was promoted to sergeant.  He was assigned as a patrol supervisor for three years.  He then was assigned as the Special Services sergeant for three years.  In that assignment, he was the Department’s professional standards investigator, public information officer and supervised crime prevention, code enforcement, and personnel and training.

In 2010 Captain Mathews was promoted to lieutenant.  As a lieutenant, his assignments included patrol watch commander, investigations division commander, budget and finance, and two lengthy stints as acting captain.

In 2019 Captain Mathews was promoted to captain.  As a captain, he previously served as the Operations Division Commander responsible for patrol, traffic, and dispatch.  He is currently assigned as the Administration Division Commander responsible for the detective bureau, the Special Investigation Unit, the Quality of Life team including Impact, code enforcement, crime prevention, park rangers and homeless outreach, records, property and evidence, animal control, personnel and training, facilities management and budget and finance.  Captains report directly to the Chief of Police.

Captain Mathews has a bachelor’s degree in public administration from the University of La Verne and a master’s degree in emergency services administration from California State University, Long Beach.