SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Sacramento will have a new top cop in 2013 after Chief Rick Braziel announced Wednesday that he is retiring at the end of the year.

Braziel is a 33-year veteran of the Sacramento Police Department and a second-generation officer with the department. His father, Dick, was a 20-year veteran of the department.

Rick Braziel was sworn in as the department’s 43rd police chief on Jan. 9, 2008. He will retire effective Dec. 29.

Braziel guided the department through difficult fiscal challenges, including wage reductions and staff layoffs, but said the department is on better standing now and the time is right for a new chief to take over.

“My job was to run as hard and far as possible, then pass the baton to the next chief who will run faster and farther than me,” he said in a press release.

Braziel said he’ll focus on a succession plan in his final days with the department.

“My priority was to develop and put in place a leadership team that would someday take the reins. I have done that and have complete faith in the leadership abilities that are in place in the Sacramento Police Department,” he said.