Tiburon cop still in his orientation period has resigned

Tiburon police Officer Alvin Stephenson has resigned from the department just four months into the job, town officials have confirmed.

The newest and only the second Black police officer in town history, Stephenson was still going through his 18-week orientation when he quit Dec. 7. Town Manager Greg Chanis said he could not comment further on personnel matters, and Police Chief Ryan Monaghan did not respond to requests for comment.

Vice Mayor Noah Griffin said he was dismayed to learn of Stephenson’s resignation and said he hopes that he or the town’s Diversity Inclusion Task Force will be able to interview Stephenson to find out why he left and whether his reasons should prompt action by the task force.

Stephenson, who could not be reached for comment, was hired in Tiburon amid a push to diversify the department after a series of local incidents in 2020 related to race and allegations of profiling. Those coincided with nationwide police-brutality cases that sparked global protests and calls for meaningful police reform, from use-of-force policies to the reallocation of police funding toward proactive community-support initiatives.

Tiburon saw the departure of one sergeant, the retirement of the previous chief, the formation of the task force and a number of town governance and community-policing reforms.

With two vacancies, Tiburon hired Stephenson and Talisa Azevedo, the department’s only female sworn officer, then revived a captain position recently filled by San Francisco police veteran Michelle Jean.

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