Statistics show people of color are most effected wrongly by law enforcement. As the city of angels embarks on selecting its next police chief, people of color provide input, concern and suggestions as to who will lead LAPD, as Charlie Beck prepares to retire.
The Los Angeles Police Commission held its last listening session regarding the selection of the next police chief of Los Angeles on April 4 at the Museum of African-American Art located at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Macy’s on the 3rd Floor.
Pastor Craig Worsham stated, “I think this is a great opportunity for community leaders and the citizens of the community to come and share their thoughts and to give input on what we need in our community. Personally, I think as it relates to our young people, we need to seek a chief that is heavily engaged socially and civically, that will cause us to build a bridge that has been broken between community and law enforcement.”
The forum was presented by Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson, Councilmember Curren Price Jr., Marqueece Harris- Dawson and the Los Angeles Sentinel Newspaper. The session was moderated by Los Angeles Sentinel managing editor and L.A. Watts Times managing editor Brandon I. Brooks, and included police commission president Matthew M. Johnson, executive director Richard M. Tefank and police commissioner Shane Murphy Goldsmith.
While the commission chose the theme of transparency, the audience questioned why the candidates remained anonymous. More than 30 people have applied to become Los Angeles’ next police chief. The full list of candidates may never be known. The city’s personnel department does not publicly release the names of the candidates being considered.
Although most candidates will never be known, Deputy Chief Phil Tingirides, who oversees the department’s South Bureau, confirmed he has applied for the top position along with Michel Moore, an assistant chief who was a finalist for the job in 2009; Sandy Jo MacArthur, a former LAPD assistant chief who retired in 2015, but is still a reserve officer; and Robert Arcos, a deputy chief who heads the LAPD’s Central Bureau.
Michael Ellison, who attended the session had his own thoughts as to who should be the next chief of Los Angeles, “when I think of someone that is doing something that’s out of the box, I think of public servants like the current deputy chief Phil Tingirides who is already engaged in the community and who doesn’t need a tutorial about where to go or what to do because he already knows.”
The search for Chief Charlie Beck’s replacement began in January, when he announced that he would retire from the Los Angeles Police Department this summer.
Mayor Eric Garcetti, will make the final selection from the list of applicants narrowed down by his appointees on the Police Commission. The City Council must then confirm the mayor’s choice. Police commissioners have said they hope to finish evaluating the candidates and offer Garcetti their top three suggestions in early June, a few weeks before Beck’s last day, June 27.
The next head of the LAPD will be responsible for the solutions to many problems including concerns of how officers use force, a rise in homelessness and racial profiling to name a few.
