Paul Bartlett has been the executive director of AOCDS since January of 2016 but has been with the association for more than 20 years. He became a member in 1998, was elected to the Board of Directors in 2002 and served on the board for six years. He accepted the position of assistant executive director in February of 2013. In his time at AOCDS, Paul has served on the Political Action Committee (PAC) and participated in a number of significant events, including negotiations for 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2006-2009, 2012-2016 and 2016-2019, as well as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime lawsuit and the Measure D initiative to protect sheriff and district attorney funding.

Paul possesses extensive law enforcement association experience. He has also been an active member and board member on both the Association of County Law Enforcement Managers (ACLEM) and the California District Attorney Investigators’ Association (CDAIA). Paul started his law enforcement career in 1983 as a police officer for the West Covina Police Department and made the switch to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in 1998. At OCDA, he was promoted through the ranks to supervising investigator and eventually commander. He investigated highly complex and sensitive cases, including specializing in officer-involved shootings and in-custody death investigations.

Paul has worked closely with several County of Orange departments and many of the city law enforcement agencies across Orange County. He works collaboratively to resolve issues and find solutions to problems, while maintaining the vision and focus of AOCDS.