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Thirteen
applicants remain for LAPD's next COP
The question
is ... and this may be your last chance to say, "What's your
criteria for Chief?"
NOTE: This article was updated on September 4th, as the initial
round of the interview process began. The thirteen names listed
here below are those confirmed as being on the semi-final list.
As we've moved through the summer the search has continued for the
next LAPD Chief of Police. We're nearing the end of a process set
in motion with the Police Commission's decision not to reappoint
the last chief.
Thirteen of the over four dozen original applicants for the job
remain.
Immediately after it received the Blue Ribbon Committee's Report
on Selection Criteria on August 27th, the Board of Police
Commissioners met in Closed Session and considered the full list
of applicants one at a time. One by one it considered candidates,
discarding those it felt did not meet the selection criteria.
Initially not all on the resulting short list of thirteen received
an endorsement from every Commissioner, but the Board did unanimously
support the entire final list.
The thirteen names were not officially made public, because the
Board had promised some of the candidates their privacy will be
protected. But it was known that the short list includes prospects
who had publicly said they'd applied for the position in the past.
Some of the thirteen applicants who remained confirmed that
they'd received invitations to interview for the job with the
Board of Police Commissioners beginning next week, Sept. 4,
5 and 6, as it moves towards making up its final list.
The members of the Board will need to eliminate all but six
names, placing them in the order of preference.
Eventually it will be up to them to forward the resumes of three
applicants in ranked preference to the Mayor, who can either
choose from this initial group or ask for three more. His decision
is then subject to approval by the fifteen members of the City
Council.
Originally Commission President Rick Caruso would only confirm
that the list of thirteen includes both men and women, is ethnically
diverse, and has applicants both from within and without the
LAPD. Some of them are from out of state. |
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NOTE: There have already been several steps in this process,
all of which we've reported ...
Chief
Selection Process
(lists
all the steps in the process)
Application
for Chief
(candidate requirements and job description)
Community's
Role
(reports on all 7 city-wide community criteria meetings)
Blue
Ribbon Panel
(lists the 15 members of the committee and their Report) |
For your convenience,
and so you'll learn a little about the known candidates, we have
created the following list of the applicants. As you can see, in
each case there's a link to more biographical information.
The small red dot in front of a name ( •
) indicates an
applicant who we have confirmed is one of the thirteen asked to
interview with the Commission.
Among the first group are those who are currently serving with the
LAPD, which we've listed by rank and length of LAPD service:
| • |
Assistant
Chief David Gascon (joined the Department in 1971) -
currently the Chief of Staff for the Los Angeles Police Department,
responsible for overseeing the Internal Affairs Group, the Ombuds
program, Governmental Liaison, and Administrative Group |
• |
Deputy
Chief Margaret York (a 32 year veteran of LAPD) - the
first woman in the history of the LAPD to reach the rank of
Deputy Chief - currently serves as the commanding officer of
LAPD's Operations Central Bureau, and oversees all Department
operations in Central, Hollenbeck, Newton, Northeast and Rampart
Areas |
• |
Deputy
Chief David Kalish (began his LAPD career in 1975) -
currently serves as the commanding officer of LAPD's Operations
West Bureau, and oversees all Department operations in Hollywood,
West Los Angeles, Pacific and Wilshire Areas |
• |
Commander
George Gascon (first joined the LAPD in 1978) - currently
serves as commanding officer of the Department's Training Group,
responsible for overseeing all training for the Department's
sworn and civilian employees |
• |
Commander
Jim McDonnell (a 22 year veteran of LAPD) - currently
assigned as the Special Assistant to the Chief of Police and
also as the Senior Lead Officer (SLO) program coordinator, Safe
Parks Coordinator and provides oversight for the Department’s
Community Policing efforts and strategies |
• |
Commander
Sharon Papa (joined the Los Angeles Police Department
in 1997 when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Police
Department merged with the LAPD
- served with the MTA Police for almost 17 years, and was its
Chief of Police from 1990 to 1997) -
currently serves as the commanding officer, Community Affairs
Group |
Here are others of the known applicants who are currently Chiefs of
Police in other cities, those who serve other Departments after having
had long LAPD careers:
| • |
Chief
Mark Kroeker - Portland Police (was with LAPD
32 years) - a former Deputy Chief at LAPD, spent a year in Bosnia
working with the United Nations on peacekeeping and policing
efforts, and has been Portland Chief since December of 1999;
was a finalist for the LAPD job five years ago |
• |
Chief
Art Lopez - Oxnard Police (was with LAPD 28 years) -
a former Deputy Chief at LAPD, has been Chief of the Oxnard
Police Department since November of 1998 and known as a firm
believer in the concepts of community based policing |
Finally, here are the known applicants who are current or former Commissioners
or Chiefs of Police from other cities, who did not serve at LAPD:
| • |
Commissioner
John Timoney - Philadelphia (appointed Commissioner
of the Philadelphia Police Department in 1998) - early career
was spent in the New York City Police Department where he became
the youngest person in NYC history to hold the "four star" position
of Chief of Department |
• |
Chief
Paul Walters - Santa Ana (appointed Chief of Police
for the City of Santa Ana in 1988) - has 30 years of diverse
police experience, and command responsibilities in every rank
from Police Officer through Captain; strong proponent of Community
Oriented Policing |
• |
Commissioner
Ronnie Watson - Cambridge, Mass. (appointed Commissioner
of Police for Cambridge, Mass. in 1996) - prior to that he'd
spent 33 years with the Chicago Police Department; implemented
a "Community Policing Strategy" for the City of Cambridge |
• |
Chief
Arturo Venegas - Sacramento (appointed as Sacramento
Police Chief in 1993) - earlier career was spent with the Fresno
Police Department; a strong believer in community policing,
his Department features a Reginal Community Policing Institute;
was a finalist for the LAPD job five years ago |
• |
William
Bratton - New York City (former Senior Consultant, Kroll
Associates) - well known Police Executive with tenures as Chief
of Boston Transit Authority Police 1990-92, Chief of New York
Transit Police 1992, Commissioner of the Boston Police Deptartment
1993, and Commissioner of the New York Police Department, 1994-96 |
Some
of these applicants are well known, others not. Los Angeles Community
Policing will continue to provide the residents with as much information
as possible about these potential new Chiefs of Police.
And we'll update and correct this list as often as we can . . .
so keep checking back.
Please let us know at LACP.org if any of this information is inaccurate
(here or anywhere on the site), and we will make corrections
right away.
Also let us know if we have inadvertently missed anyone or
if the status of any of the applicants on this list changes.
Oh, and in case you're wondering who we support ...
Endorsement
(the LA
Community Policing preference)
This may be your
last chance to serve up community criteria in the quest for a new
LAPD Chief of Police, as we ask the question of the week, "What's
your criteria for Chief?"
How high on your list would "community policing" appear,
and what would it entail?
Please take advantage of this important final opportunity to make
a difference. The Board intends to begin its interviews of the remaining
thirteen applicants next week.
As always, we ask that your responses be about principals, not personalities
. . . about what qualities you'd like to see in a Chief, not which
candidate you prefer.
And who knows? Your input on selection criteria might help
frame the questions asked . . .
We
wish to include your perspective and some of your ideas, making
this article the beginning of a dialogue about what you think
about the issue, and a true LACP community effort.
We'll be adding to the responses all week long as replies come to
us. And next week we'll pick another topic (feel free to suggest
a future "Question of the Week).
Our practice is to protect the anonymity of any individual whose
opinion we use on the site, so unless you specifically tell us it's
OK to use your name, we won't.
But our preference is for participants to give us permission to
use their names, the sections of the city they're from, and / or
an appropriate title.
Let's see if together we can make a difference!
Yours in service,
Bill Murray
LA Community Policing
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