Since taking over as president of the Los Angeles Police Commission in August, Erroll Southers has received praise (and some criticism) for his stewardship of the civilian agency charged with overseeing the city's Police Department.
Southers, a career law enforcement official and former FBI agent, now teaches security issues as a professor at USC. He sat down with The Times in his office on the first floor of LAPD headquarters earlier this month to reflect on his first year on the Commission, the legacy of former Chief Michel Moore, officer recruiting and the need to explore alternatives to armed police for certain emergencies. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
LONG: Now that you have put your feet in the water and have some experience, what do you think is your role or the role of the Commission in general?
Southerners: I am only the second former police officer in the commission's history, so I approach this with a very different perspective. In fact, many of these people in this building were my graduate students for the last 20 years. So with that, there is a relationship. I know and have been in the LAPD for 44 years. But now I have people upstairs who have been in my classroom. [at USC]. And that is a different relationship.
I think maybe there's a comfort level with me, more than with others because, frankly, I don't need to go on a walk. They know I've been in their shoes, radio calls, tough times. When I was in [FBI], SWAT, field training officer, gangs and all that other stuff, I've worked on those details. When I participate in closed sessions on categorical uses of force, I can ask questions from a perspective of experience that my colleagues may not be able to.
LAT: The commission has long played this policy-making role within the department and sort of an oversight role, but has it evolved? Do you think it needs to evolve?
Southerners: I think it needs to evolve and I think we can be part of that evolution. I don't know if we could promote the evolution that is necessary, with all due respect, without the death of George Floyd occurring. This, for me, stimulated some reforms. The unfortunate thing is… we live in a zero-sum America. It's unfortunate that… you say “police reform” and they hear “defund the police.” You say “DEI” [diversity, equity and inclusion] and someone hears “white genocide.” It's not about that and that must change. And that's not just about policing, it's about America.
LAT: What do you think are the biggest issues, worries and concerns facing the department today?
Southerners: Number one has to be (I would have to agree with the mayor) recruitment and retention.
We are receiving interest. People still want to be in LAPD. And I'm going to be very honest with you: that room [at recruitment events] has its share of women, that room has its share of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, young people [people]; There are people there in their 50s, I mean, we don't have any problems getting people into the room. It is the standard we maintain. And I say this to push back against people who think we've compromised in some way: No, we haven't. That's why we only get five to ten out of every 100.
So that would be my number one item: recruitment and retention. The other is that I will always say community participation and community building. We need to do a better job. We need to improve our image.
LONG: ANDYou've heard criticism about the Police Commission being a lapdog or approval body for the Los Angeles Police Department, what do you think of that? And how do you walk that fine line between working with the department to improve it when necessary and also being receptive to community feedback or criticism?
Southerners: That's fair. I am one of those people who tries to follow the example of educating people. I have shared, to the extent possible without compromising personnel issues, that each categorical use of force that we judge every Tuesday is examined at the level of a homicide. We have statements from officers, statements from suspects, statements from witnesses, body-worn videos, dash cam videos, videos from any building in the area, whether it's residences or businesses, we look at drawings. We have slowed down videos, which is sometimes a criticism of our officers, because we're seeing slowed down incidents, where they can't slow down. All that to say with all that information, when we go back and say [a shooting is] In politics we can say without reservation, it is in politics.
I'm in this position now because I grew up… being stopped by the police for nothing more than walking down the street. And I'm not the stereotype. With all due respect, I had great parents (I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for them), both educated. My brother and I attended Ivy League schools and came out debt-free because my parents did the right thing. They knew what they were doing. No one in my family has ever been to prison. None of my friends, who were all black and none of their families, were ever in prison. All of my friends' parents were married. So I killed that stereotype that people have about us.
But I say all that to say I'm still excited. And finally, after enough had happened, one day I was complaining to my dad and he said, 'Well, you can't change the castle from outside the moat.' So here I am. I feel like I'm inside the castle now. Now I can influence politics. Now I can affect the officers. Now I can say, 'You know that officer definitely shouldn't be here.'
I started a registration at USC. It was originally called the LEWIS Registry and now it's called the Police Misconduct Registry, where we started documenting officers who have been fired across the country, because my opinion is that once they've been fired, and you know what it takes to fire an officer. —should not be hired by someone else. I feel that way, I felt that way then, I feel that way now. So when I hear criticism from people (who think I don't know, that I'm suddenly not black), I just take it and move on. If they only knew how much we care and how much we can affect what is happening here. I think they probably say it anyway because they have to.
LAT: Obviously, one of the most monumental tasks before you right now is the search for a new boss. Can you talk about where you see it going? How has the job of LAPD police chief changed?
Southerners: I can say without reservation: I am part of a group of people that this is going to be the most important professional decision I will make in my life. We will select the police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. And over at least a five-year period, that will affect 3.8 million people for part of a generation. So my fellow commissioners and I take it very seriously.
I'll say the same thing I said. [to] people who have asked me so far: [we’re searching for] nothing less than the best person in this country. And if that person is in this building, that will happen. I did the same thing for a search a little over a year ago at USC; I think when I brought [Department of Public Safety Chief] Lauretta Hill to USC, I think I got the best person in the United States; she brought it from Dallas.
LAT: When you consider Chief Michel Moore's tenure or legacy, where do you think he will fit in the pantheon of LAPD chiefs?
Southerners: There were a couple of bosses over the years that you will always remember for something. Daryl Gates will always be remembered because at least the LAPD invented SWAT when he was here. That's a big problem. I mean he did several things, but that's important.
When Bratton came in, the consent decree that changed the department… Bratton changed the department. I think Chief Moore will be remembered in the same breath as Gates and Bratton, because he had two monumental changes (most bosses will never have one), but he had two. He had the death of George Floyd, which in my opinion changed policing across the country, and he had a pandemic. And just those factors, to still stand when it's finished; Regardless of what people said (about what he should do, what he didn't do, about how he did it), he still stood.
