Britta Steinbrenner MADD Board

Britta Steinbrenner

Retired Chief of Public Safety

Britta Steinbrenner is a retired Chief of Public Safety at Pepperdine University, following a distinguished career as a Captain in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Over her impressive 35-year tenure with the Department, she advanced through the ranks from Deputy to Sergeant, Lieutenant, and ultimately, Captain. Britta has held significant positions in custody, patrol, media relations, human resources, fiscal management, risk management, emergency management, preparedness, response, and Homeland Security. As a captain, she managed the Department’s Media & Pres Relations Bureau effectively. She successfully established the Community Partnerships Bureau, which consolidated the Department’s community-based policing units under a single command. She was responsible for overseeing law enforcement security services for six county hospitals, 85 libraries, and 320 county buildings, all while managing a budget of $130 million. In 2020, amidst the Black Lives Matter Movement and the protests following George Floyd’s death, she assumed the role of Incident Commander, leading a team of more than 200 deputies. Notably, during the civil unrest at the Downtown Los Angeles Civic Center, her leadership resulted in no arrests, no damage, no use of force, and no deployment of less lethal weaponry throughout a crucial two-month activation. In 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic, she oversaw the Department’s Operations Center for eight months while simultaneously fulfilling her responsibilities as Captain and commanding the bureau. Managing the Operations Center enabled her to collaborate with various law enforcement agencies, Fire Departments, Medical Administrators, social services, and county departments to safeguard the community throughout the pandemic.

After concluding her career in law enforcement, she began a new chapter as the first female candidate for Sheriff of Los Angeles County. This groundbreaking opportunity led her to a subsequent position as the Chief of Public Safety at Pepperdine University from 2022 to 2024. In this role, she oversaw the administrative, investigative, and patrol operations, ensuring a safe, welcoming, and secure campus environment for students and the entire university community. As Chief of Public Safety at Pepperdine, Britta navigated the tragic loss of four female Pepperdine seniors who were killed instantly on October 17, 2023, by a distracted and speeding driver on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Britta is an alumna of the University of La Verne in California, where she earned her Master of Business Administration in Management and her Bachelor of Arts degree while raising her family of two daughters and two sons. Her children also serve as first responders, with two currently in the military – one now retired – and the other two working in the medical field.

Britta is excited about the opportunity to pay her good fortune forward by volunteering on MADD’s Board of Directors, giving back to the community she served.