The City of Hermosa Beach was incorporated in 1907. The police department had a small and varied start with one employee first noted in city records as E.L. Ferriel, the city Marshal in 1908. Marshal Ferriel was elected to the position with a total of 88 votes. Other dates recorded showed the following:

• J.K. Mills was elected the town Marshal in 1910 with 66 votes.
• Chester Palmer was listed as the town Marshal in 1911.
• Arthur Marshall was paid $75.00 a month as a "Night Watchman" on April 15, 1918.
• W.W. "Buck" Gipson was the City Marshal and paid $150 a month on April 18, 1922.
• William A. Stiles was the City Marshal on March 20, 1923.
• E.L. Messinger was listed as the City Marshal on April 19, 1926.
• The population in 1926 was 6,500.

Chiefs of Police

• 1937 D.L. Evans
• 1942 Chief Evans enlists in Navy and Hollie Murray becomes Acting Chief of Police
• 1947 F.L. "Jack" Harlow
• 1957 to 1975 William H. Berlin
• 1975 to 1981 Claude G. Stonier
• 1982 to 1987 Frank Beeson
• 1987 to 1992 Steve Wisniewski (Public Safety Director)
• 1992 to 2001 Valentine Straser
• 2001 to 2006 Michael Lavin
• 2006 to 2012 Greg Savelli
• 2013 to 2019 Sharon Papa

Medal of Valor Recipients 

• William Cavenaugh 1979
• James Chizmar 1982
• Mark Wright 1986
• Thomas Eckert 1986
• John Kearin 1986
• Timothy Turek 1994
• Kurt Michel 1994
• Dana M. Reinhardt 1994

Distinguished Service Award Recipients

• Dean Garkow 2013
• Josh Droz 2013 
• Mick Gaglia 2014 

Sustained Superiority Award

• Tom Thompson 2005

Life Saving Award Recipients 

• George Brunn 2018
• Matthew Rushton 2018
• Everett Faulk 2018
• Chief Sharon Papa 2019
• Milton McKinnon 2019
• Kristoffer Eszlinger 2019
• Aurelio Lopez 2019
• Joshua Nakamoto 2019
• Richard Taylor II 2019