Paying It Forward
Retired Manhattan Beach police chief Derrick Abell finds satisfaction in mentoring.
Written by Nancy Sokoler Steiner | Photographed by Micheal Neveux
A law enforcement officer’s creed is to protect and serve. Derrick Abell adds another precept: to mentor. Chief of the Manhattan Beach Police Department (MBPD) since 2018, Abell retired in 2021 but continued to fulfill that role as interim chief until this month when his replacement was found.
As a leader, he says, “I really embrace the opportunity to share my experience, teach and be a role model to the people coming through the ranks, the people I’m responsible for and the community I serve.”
Me and my friends still talk about Coach Abell. Out of all the coaching experiences we’ve had, we all remember what he taught us, the things he said. His message was: If you want something you have to go after it, never give up and never accept mediocrity. The energy and intensity he brought every day taught me so much. He taught me not only to be the best football player I can be, but the best person I can be outside the field. He was one of my favorite coaches I’ve ever had. During freshman football, I wanted to be better for him just because I had so much respect for him.”
—Jackson Fischer,
2020 graduate, Mira
Costa, and corner, Princeton University
In his more than 30 years on the MBPD, Abell has held a variety of roles. They include D.A.R.E. officer, SWAT team member and commander, police lieutenant and field operations division commander. He became chief in 2018—the first African American to fulfill that role.
Abell found fulfillment in establishing relationships with the community, initially with students, teachers and administrators in his role as a D.A.R.E. officer. “I like being out in the field and dealing with people and problem solving,” he says.
Those relationships inform his desire to pay it forward. “If you’re a leader who truly appreciates your role and the responsibility you have, you try to share with people the insights you’ve gained over time to help them through their challenges,” he says.
Abell credits role models who contributed to his success. His mother raised him and his sister as a single parent “who expected the most out of us,” he says. “She never accepted mediocrity.” In addition, Abell played football in high school and college, where his coaches served as father figures. “They kept me on the straight and narrow. I’m still in contact with them today.”
He aims to fill that role not only for members of the police force but for youth as well. Abell volunteers as a coach for the freshman football team at Mira Costa High School. “It’s not about winning and losing; it’s about the life skills we can impart to those kids.” He tells parents to judge him on whether, by the end of the season, their child has matured as evidenced by such signs as having better time management, doing chores without prompting or raising a hand in the classroom thanks to confidence gained on the team.
Abell has also taught civics classes at Mira Costa and hopes to teach life skills in Manhattan Beach and Inglewood schools now that he’s truly retired. Meanwhile, he managed to escape for two weeks in June—he’d never taken more than a week’s vacation before—on a motorcycle trip with two friends to visit his former stomping grounds in Montana. The 4,300-mile trip included stops in national parks and enjoying the scenery in South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.
Abell found his purpose in law enforcement but admits he initially had no intention of serving. He hoped to go into broadcasting after graduating from Montana State University with a degree in communications and public relations. He saw a recruiting ad for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department promising a $34,000 annual salary with benefits and decided to give it a shot.
He was soon hired and was working in the county men’s jail. Not long after, a friend from the Sheriff’s Academy now working in the Manhattan Beach Police District encouraged Abell to join him. “I had never been to Manhattan Beach,” says Abell, who grew up in Inglewood. He liked what he saw, applied and was hired in 1991. “It’s been a great ride ever since,” he says.
