Natasha Crawford is the 11th Chief of the Bureau of Investigation.  She was appointed to the agency’s executive position by elected District Attorney Michael Hestrin, effective June 15th, 2023. Natasha has 22 years of law enforcement experience.

Before coming to the Bureau of Investigation, Natasha began her law enforcement career as a Patrol Officer with the Redlands Police Department. Throughout her time with Redlands PD, she worked as a Field Training Officer training entry level police officers, a Multiple Enforcement Team Officer, a Community Policing Officer facilitating outreach programs, Patrol Corporal, and as a Detective with the Special Victims Unit. It was during this part of her career she attained a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership.

In 2016, Natasha joined the District Attorney’s Office as a Senior Investigator, where she worked with the Child Abduction Unit coordinating multijurisdictional interstate investigations for the successful return of children. She later moved to Special Victims and specialized in domestic violence homicide investigations. In October 2017, Natasha promoted to Senior Investigator II and conducted forensic child investigations, case evaluations, and managed multiple inter-agency relationships. She promoted to Supervising Investigator in March 2018 to manage and mentor investigative staff and oversee the Special Prosecutions Section II, monitoring unit expenditures and activities. She became Commander in 2020 to aid the restructure of the Riverside County Child Exploitative Team, manage budget development, and oversee the Organized Crime Unit. In 2021, Natasha became an Assistant Chief. During this time, she implemented new protocols and policies, assumed administrative responsibility for command, developed budgets and programs, mentored and led management staff.

Chief Crawford holds a Bachelor’s degree in Government from the University of Redlands and a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University. Natasha has served and continues to serve and volunteer in committees and workshops involving POST certifications, budgets, policies, law enforcement appreciation, mentorship, and recruitment.