As the Los Angeles Police Department holds its breath over the selection of its next chief, officials this week announced the selection of the agency's new top policing officer.
Django Sibley, a former police officer in the United Kingdom, has been named executive director of the Los Angeles Police Commission. Sibley served in the role on an interim basis for nearly six months following the retirement of Richard Tefank, who held the position for nearly two decades.
His selection was ratified in a 4-0 vote by the commission on Tuesday.
Before replacing Tefank, Sibley spent nearly two decades in the Los Angeles Police Department's inspector general's office, where he rose to the rank of deputy inspector general in charge of all investigations into serious police uses of force. He joined the office in 2004 and earned a reputation as an effective behind-the-scenes operator with a sophisticated understanding of police matters.
In a prepared statement, committee Chairman Erroll G. Southers said the election comes at “a critical time in the history of this Department.”
Django Sibley, 51, served as interim CEO for about six months.
(Los Angeles Police Commission)
“Mr. Sibley comes to us uniquely qualified, with an extensive background in law enforcement and police supervision,” the statement said.
A commission spokesman said Sibley was selected from among 20 applicants.
As executive director, Sibley, 51, will act as a liaison between the commission and police department officials. The civilian oversight panel reviews all serious uses of force by LAPD officers and helps craft policy.
His selection fills one of three vacancies in LAPD leadership and supervisory positions: chief, inspector general and executive director of the Police Commission.
Sibley's former boss, then-Inspector General Mark Smith, resigned in April after being named an independent monitor to oversee police reforms in Portland, Oregon.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has said she intends to select her mayor by the end of the month.
The three finalists for the job, selected from a field of more than 30 candidates, are Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides; Jim McDonnell, a former Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief and former Los Angeles County sheriff; and Robert Arcos, a former Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief who is a senior official in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The commission remains at four members after a potential replacement for former Commissioner William Briggs withdrew from consideration a day after his confirmation hearing before the City Council's Public Safety Committee.
Bass had nominated Karl Thurmond, co-chairman of Rep. Adam B. Schiff’s finance committee, but members of the council committee appeared to grow increasingly frustrated with Thurmond over his answers (or lack thereof) to questions about his background, police hiring and other issues.
Before enrolling in graduate school at USC, Sibley worked for Humberside Police, a force of about 4,000 members that patrols the East Riding of Yorkshire, about four hours north of London.
Sibley's departure was chronicled in the local paper, the Hull Daily Mail, in an article headlined: “Bobby packs his bags for a spell in the Sunshine State.”
The story goes that Sibley joined Humberside Police in 1995 and spent most of his career patrolling areas around Hull, an abandoned North Sea port in northeast England.
Sibley had reportedly chosen to attend USC to study geography, taking advantage of a five-year sabbatical granted to all Humberside officers to “pursue other personal activities.” Sibley told the paper that he was looking forward to living in California, but that “the plan is to come back in two years.”
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
