Chief Mark Kling has been a police officer for 34-years. He has a combined 14-years of experience leading police organizations as police chief. Chief Kling began serving as police chief in 2001, then retired at the beginning of 2012. In 2017, Chief Kling returned from retirement to once again lead the Rialto Police Department.

Chief Kling earned a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration from the University of La Verne. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. Chief Kling is a graduate of the F.B.I. National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, with an emphasis on leadership. He has earned the POST Executive Management Certificate. Chief Kling has dedicated his career to improving organizations with an emphasis on developing personnel within police agencies.  

Chief Kling has supervised and worked in nearly every assignment within police agencies throughout his career. Some of those assignments have included narcotics, gangs, field training, investigations, traffic, administration and community relations bureaus. He understands the importance of community-based policing and has a strong connection to the community that he serves.

For the past 7 years, Chief Kling has been a tenured associate professor teaching at the university level in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies. As part of Chief Kling’s academic tenure, his dissertation researched the bonds of trust between men and women police officers. Chief Kling utilizes a combination of academic and real-world experience in reshaping public sector organizations.