CHP Capt. Greg Tracey graduated from Petaluma High in 1976.

There’s a new CHP boss in town.

Capt. Greg Tracey, who graduated from Petaluma High in 1976, this week became commander of the 80 officers who work out of the Rohnert Park office and cover most of Sonoma County.

Tracey replaces Capt. Kelly Young, who retired in June.

Tracey formerly worked in the CHP’s Golden Gate Division Communications Center and was a lieutenant in Sonoma County. While in the county, he helped implement a program where CHP officers who patrol the extreme northern and western parts of the county worked out of the Windsor police station and the Sheriff’s Office substation in Guerneville. The program is credited with cutting response times, increasing patrol times, reducing collisions and reducing the need for those officers to daily drive to the Rohnert Park HQ.

After Petaluma High, Tracey graduated from New Mexico State University and started his police career with the University of California Police in 1980. He later transferred to the California State Police and joined the CHP in 1995 after the two agencies merged. He has been assigned to the governor’s protection detail and managed the CHP’s air operations unit, multi-disciplinary accident investigation team and commercial operations unit.

Tracey lives in Petaluma with his wife and 17-year-old daughter.