Three candidates, one choice for LA Community Policing ...
just my opinion ... by Bill Murray

By now you know the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners has forwarded the names of its three final candidates for LAPD Chief of Police to Mayor Hahn.

If a real commitment to a robust community policing program in Los Angeles is even part of your criteria, there's one man who stands out ... way out ... Oxnard's Chief of Police Art Lopez, the former LAPD Deputy Chief who served the Department for almost three decades.

Alone among the candidates, Chief Lopez has a proven commitment to community policing. His consistent track record dates back well over a decade, when, as commanding officer of LAPD's Hollenbeck Division, he implemented a unique community-based policing program, elements of which became the model for the entire Department. Even today, the Community Police Academy can be traced back to the Lopez era, as can many other of LAPD's most successful community and volunteer programs.

Chief Art Lopez

As his resume states, "The success of this departure from traditional methods of providing police services resulted in four consecutive years of decreasing crime."

He didn't miss a beat in Oxnard either, setting up Community-Police Advisory Boards for each of the city's districts, and establishing community councils for the African American, Latino, and Asian residents. In Oxnard, serious crime dropped by 25 percent between 1999 and 2001.

As a problem solver, Chief Lopez brings people together, and he easily shares the credit.

Lopez is a leader who does not view the police and community as being separate and adversarial. In fact, the Mayor of Oxnard was recently quoted as saying, "He has been able to develop a feeling in the community that the police force is part and parcel of the community, not a separate entity."

He comes with the extra added benefit of his knowledge of the personnel and intricacies of the LAPD, and an intimate understanding of the Los Angeles community. Oh, and by the way, he speaks Spanish fluently, and even since taking over Oxnard PD he's maintained his home in LA's San Fernando Valley.

Lopez served LAPD for 28 years, in nearly every capacity, in nearly every part of town.

Joining the Department in 1971, he worked his way up the ranks from patrolman in the Valley to Deputy Chief of Operation-Central Bureau (where he commanded some 3,000 personnel). Along the way Lopez was in charge of Training Division, the Department's ombudsman, and served as field commander in Watts during the 1992 Rodney King verdict riots.

His LAPD resume includes service in virtually all aspects of the Department; as an Area and Bureau commanding officer, and in narcotics, vice, gang enforcement, detectives, traffic, personnel and labor relations.

Mayor Hahn has stated, "My expectations for the new chief are very clear: reduce crime, improve morale and recruitment, implement the reforms mandated by the consent decree, expand community policing and embrace the role of civilian oversight."

I believe he wants all of the above.

There's only one candidate that even comes close to fulfilling all these requirements, Art Lopez, and Lopez can hit the ground running.