After an initial round of interviews, the field of contenders to be the next Los Angeles police chief has been narrowed down to about 10 names, according to several sources familiar with the nationwide search.
The shortlist is split between department veterans and outsiders, including several with deep ties to Southern California law enforcement.
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, right, at a mayoral campaign event for Rick Caruso, center, in 2022. At left is former Los Angeles Police Department Chief William J. Bratton. McDonnell, a former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, is said to be among the candidates for police chief.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
Among them is Jim McDonnell, a former Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief and former Los Angeles County sheriff whose name has been floating around LAPD headquarters and City Hall for months as a possible candidate. His candidacy, confirmed by at least three sources, adds another dynamic to what many consider an open race to be the city’s next police chief.
The sources agreed to speak to The Times on condition that their names not be used because the search process is supposed to be confidential.
The department veterans who received second interviews, according to sources, are: Deputy Chief Blake Chow, who oversees LAPD special operations; Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides, commander of the department’s South Bureau; Deputy Chief Donald Graham, who heads the Transit Services Bureau; Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, chief of the Detective Bureau; and Commander Lillian Carranza of the Central Bureau.
Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides speaks at an event in August.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton speaks at a news conference in April.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Police Department Captain Lillian Carranza during a news conference at police headquarters in 2018.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
Outside candidates also being interviewed include former Houston and Miami police chief Art Acevedo and Robert Arcos, a former Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief who works for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Executives from midsize agencies in the South and Pacific Northwest are also said to have been interviewed for a second time.
Art Acevedo, former police chief of Miami, Houston and Austin, speaks during a protest near the Capitol in Washington in June 2022.
(Susan Walsh/Associated Press)
Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Robert Arcos during an officer inspection in 2017.
(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
Recruiters are scheduled to conduct another round of interviews with the 10 or so candidates behind closed doors in the coming weeks, the sources said.
The process has been shrouded in an unusual level of secrecy.
While names of candidates have sometimes been withheld to protect the identities of those working in other cities, officials have also declined to disclose how many people applied for the job, saying only that the number was “more than 25.” Sources later told The Times that the number was more than 30.
At stake is the chance to lead the nation's third-largest local police force at a crucial time in its history. Whoever gets the job will inherit a wary department eager for clear leadership, and a city troubled by both crime and use of force.
One of the key questions facing Mayor Karen Bass is whether an outsider would be better suited to bring reforms to the organization, rather than someone who has come up through the ranks here and already understands the political and labor landscape.
Bass and members of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners have embarked on a citywide listening tour to poll residents, officers and business owners about what they want to see in the next chief. During public forums, many attendees pushed for the selection of a police officer who is attuned to policing in a city as vast and diverse as Los Angeles.
Others spoke about the importance of choosing someone who understands the complicated history between the department and the communities it serves. And yet, unlike other recent chief searches, a growing number of people within the LAPD are pushing for an outside candidate to breathe new life into the organization.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the powerful bargaining body for the city's rank-and-file officers, has not publicly defined its position on the insider-outsider debate.
The search began with the retirement in February of former Chief Michel Moore. One of his former chief deputies, Dominic Choi, was chosen as interim leader. Moore stayed on as a consultant in the chief search and Choi said he will not seek the job permanently.
The job of running the Los Angeles Police Department — a sprawling, multibillion-dollar organization with more than 10,000 employees that operates under intense scrutiny — is more about risk management than crime-fighting; it involves balancing often conflicting demands: Violent crime, such as homicides and robberies, is up compared with this time last year; the number of police shootings is up, too, raising concerns at the Police Commission, the department’s civilian watchdog. Meanwhile, any new leader, particularly one coming from the outside, is expected to be a fast learner and hit the ground running.
The pool of candidates is more diverse and generally less experienced than in the recent past. At least four women are rumored to have made the cut, and all but two of the candidates are people of color. In the LAPD’s long history, there has never been a woman in charge. There has also never been a Latino chief, in a city and department where more than half the population is now Latino.
Commission officials have publicly insisted that race and gender will not be decisive factors in the selection process. Commission Chairman Erroll G. Southers and other commission members have repeatedly said they are focused on choosing the most qualified candidate rather than “checking all the boxes.”
The Southerners declined to comment through a spokesman.
Forecasters have said Bass's selection will say much about the direction he sees the department taking. Picking someone from within the organization to follow in Moore's footsteps would signal that the mayor is looking to continue some of the reforms he initiated, but would stop short of the wholesale changes some have called for.
According to some observers, the selection of an outsider would signal that the mayor is seeking a new direction for the department. The city has hired only two outside chiefs in the past 75 years: Willie L. Williams and William J. Bratton. Both selections came after high-profile scandals: the Los Angeles uprising in 1992 and the Rampart scandal in the late 1990s, in which more than 70 police officers were implicated in unprovoked shootings, assaults and planting evidence.
The two current contenders with the most experience are both outsiders. After starting his career with the LAPD, McDonnell left to take a job as police chief in Long Beach before successfully running for the Los Angeles County sheriff’s post. He has worked at USC for the past several years, alongside the Southers. Acevedo once served as chief of the California Highway Patrol for the Los Angeles Basin, before being tapped to be the top cop for Austin, Houston, Miami and, most recently, Aurora, Colorado.
The second round of interviews marks a key step in the months-long search. City officials initially said the hiring would be finalized in late August or early September, but that timeline could stretch into the fall.
Bass will hire the next chief, choosing from candidates nominated by the commission and an outside recruiting firm. The deadline for applications closed late last month; initial interviews with candidates began a few days later.
Bass has repeatedly said the feedback he receives will influence his decision.
Councilman Tim McOsker said he understands the need for discretion in the search process, such as when, as a young City Hall staffer, he participated in the nationwide search that led to Bratton's hiring. At the same time, he said, he thinks it's important for Bass to lay out his expectations before choosing a chief, which is “one of the most important and politically charged decisions for a mayor.”
He pointed to the letter Bass sent to the council before her reappointment of Moore, in which she listed her expectations, from reducing violent crime to boosting community policing and holding officers accountable. McOsker said he thought the mayor should be equally clear about what she wants from the next chief.
The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Experts say the Los Angeles Police Department's job is one of the toughest in law enforcement.
Any serious candidate will need to have a proven track record as an experienced leader. The chief must be comfortable speaking off the cuff, and often in front of cameras, about the work of the police department through the progressive lens of the city's elected leaders, including the mayor and City Council.
Whoever gets the job will have to face many challenges at once, while grappling with the myriad issues facing the city, including homelessness and the fentanyl crisis.
The next chief will also have to recruit and inspire a new generation of officers, some of whom weren’t even born when the department was forced to make sweeping changes in the wake of the Rampart scandal and who grew up in the era of the Black Lives Matter movement. Others are eager to see how the next chief will approach a much-criticized disciplinary system that, depending on who you ask, either lets too many bad cops off the hook or has been weaponized to favor the well-connected.
