Pittsburg police promote a captain, a lieutenant and a sergeant

Pittsburg police Chief Phil Galer swore in three promotions this week: Will Hatcher to captain, Cory Smith to lieutenant and Jerry Sanchez Jr. to sergeant. The city announced the ceremony on Monday.

Capt. William Hatcher has been with the Pittsburg Police Department for more than two decades. He made sergeant in 2013 and held a run of leadership assignments after that, including SWAT team leader and supervisor of the street team, the narcotics unit and the investigations division. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2021, serving as a watch commander, SWAT commander and overseeing both administrative services and investigations.

Hatcher is a graduate of the Sherman Block Leadership Institute and the California POST Command College, and holds master's degrees in criminal justice and in public safety leadership. In January 2027 he will represent the department at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, a 10-week course departments typically send one supervisor to at a time.

Lt. Cory Smith came to law enforcement after four years of active duty in the U.S. Air Force that included overseas deployments supporting combat operations. He was sworn in as a Pittsburg officer in 2006 and has spent 20 years with the department, working as a field training officer, honor guard member, perimeter response team member, tactical medic, SWAT operator and motor officer.

Smith promoted to sergeant in 2021, supervising patrol, leading a SWAT team and running the special investigations unit. He moved to professional standards as the hiring and training sergeant, field training officer coordinator and department training coordinator, the assignments that decide who the department hires and how they are trained.

Sgt. Jerry Sanchez joined Pittsburg in August 2021 with eight years of law enforcement experience and family ties to the city. He began his career with the Oakland Police Department in 2013, where he worked as a motor officer, emergency vehicle operations instructor, patrol rifle officer, field training officer, traffic investigator and SWAT team member. In Pittsburg he has served as a field training officer, traffic officer, fatal collision investigator, and on the SWAT and marine patrol teams.

Sanchez has twice been elected president of the Pittsburg Police Officers' Association, which the department cited as a measure of his standing among his peers.