LAPD’s No. 2 Man Chosen Beverly Hills Police Chief

Assistant Los Angeles Police Chief Marvin D. Iannone, once a leading contender for chief, has been chosen to head the Beverly Hills Police Department, it was disclosed Monday.

The 52-year-old Iannone, who has been with the Los Angeles Police Department more than 28 years and currently serves as director of operations, will replace Lee Tracy, who has resigned from the Beverly Hills job because of serious illness. Iannone is expected to be sworn in June 25.

There was no official announcement from the City of Beverly Hills. However, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates made the disclosure and said, “While I am happy for the City of Beverly Hills and congratulate them on their selection, I am just as sorry to see Assistant Chief Iannone leave the LAPD.”

Iannone said he was looking forward to going “to this fine community.” He called Beverly Hills a “unique place” and said he was “very anxious to be part of it.”

He said his decision to take the new job had “absolutely nothing to do” with last year’s controversy over methods of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Public Disorder Intelligence Division, which was disbanded after charges of improper spying on law-abiding organizations.

As one of the city’s three top police officers (with Gates and Assistant Chief Robert L. Vernon), Iannone received some of the blame in an official report for allegedly misleading the public about the Public Disorder Intelligence Division’s activities, limiting the scope of the department’s internal investigation and encouraging a narrow definition of Police Commission guidelines prohibiting spying on law-abiding citizens and groups.

Iannone was considered the No. 2 man in the department and a strong contender for Los Angeles chief in the event Gates retired, but after the negative report commissioned by the city and prepared by a law firm last December, he said he was much less interested in the top job.

“I have worked 28 years at building what I consider to be an impeccable reputation, impeccable integrity,” Iannone said. “And these people, for whatever reasons, come along and smear me. I’ll never get over it.”

Beverly Hills City Manager Ed Kreins said 44 candidates had been interviewed for the $75,000-a-year post. “It’s really a coup for us to get someone of that quality,” he said.

Beverly Hills Mayor Edward I. Brown said Iannone was one of two finalists chosen by Kreins. The City Council then settled on Iannone. Brown declined to identify the other finalist but said the winner “is the type of person I feel will relate well with the community . . . .”

Iannone was born in Ogden, Utah. He grew up in Orange and received bachelor and master of science degrees at California State University, Los Angeles.

He joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1956, was appointed deputy chief in April, 1974, and assistant chief in 1978. He was department commander for last year’s Olympic Games. Iannone lives in Malibu. He has a wife, Patricia, and a 15-year-old daughter.