The first chief of the West Sacramento Police Department, Barry Kalar, also a prominent community member and an adjunct professor at Sacramento City College, died Saturday after a battle with cancer, the department confirmed Tuesday. He was 79.
Kalar was selected from more than 75 applicants for the West Sacramento police chief position, which he took over soon after the city’s incorporation in May 1987 for $48,000 a year. He helped create the department and oversaw the transition from the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office to a municipal police force.
Kalar resigned in February 1993, about a year after the West Sacramento Police Officers’ Association passed a vote of no confidence against him, according to previous Bee reporting. He had, at times, sought other jobs as well, including being one of two finalists for the Vacaville police chief position in 1991…