Beck shakes up LAPD’s command staff

Less than a week after taking over the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Charlie Beck announced a shake-up in the department’s command staff, including the demotion of two of the LAPD’s highest-ranking officials and promotion of several others.

Beck, who was confirmed as chief by the City Council last Tuesday, promoted Deputy Chief Michel Moore to become one of the LAPD’s three assistant chiefs and assigned him to a newly created post in charge of Special Services, according to an announcement released Monday.

In his new post, Moore will oversee an array of specialized operations that, until now, have been run separately, including the agency’s Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, the elite Metropolitan Division and the Detective Bureau.

To make room for Moore, Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell, who for several years has been the second-highest-ranking person in the department, dropped one rank to deputy chief and will take on a new position as chief of detectives.

In the most dramatic move, Beck demoted Assistant Chief Sharon Papa, who has run the Support Services Bureau, down two levels to the rank of commander, said several sources who asked that their names not be used because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the changes. Beck and his aides declined to discuss Papa’s demotion, saying it was a personnel matter.

The new roster of top-ranking officials released by the department Monday made no mention of Papa.

In Papa’s place, Beck elevated Deputy Chief Sandy Jo MacArthur to assistant chief and reassigned her to a new position in charge of Administrative Services -- a role that will be similar to Papa’s old one.

The third assistant chief, Earl Paysinger, will remain in charge of the Office of Operations, although the size of his domain will shrink, as several units are moved to Moore’s new portfolio.

Under the reshuffling, three of the department’s four regional bureaus will also receive new leaders. Cmdrs. Debra McCarthy and Pat Gannon will be promoted to the rank of deputy chiefs, with McCarthy taking over the West Bureau and Gannon the South Bureau, while Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese will fill Moore’s current spot in charge of the Valley Bureau. Deputy Chief Terry Hara will leave his current post in West Bureau in order to run training operations.

The changes are Beck’s first significant effort to make his mark as chief and distinguish himself from his predecessor William J. Bratton, who had assembled the command staff that Beck reorganized.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

Times staff writers Phil Willon and Richard Winton contributed to this report.