LAPD Captain Expected to Become Chief in El Paso

Harbor Division Capt. Russell Leach of the Los Angeles Police Department is expected to be the first “outsider” to land the job of police chief in El Paso after his nomination by the town’s mayor on Tuesday.

Leach is expected to leave the Los Angeles waterside for the Texas desert and begin work April 3.

“Barring the creek rising, he’s in,” El Paso Mayor Larry Francis said, adding that council members have agreed to vote for Leach at a special meeting this month.

Leach, 46, was chosen from a pool of 35 candidates. His selection over El Paso police Deputy Chief Edward Ortega, the other top choice, is expected to draw criticism from some sectors of the local community.

“It was a very difficult decision,” Francis said. “Obviously there was a lot of sentiment for the hometown boy, who we feel one day will be the police chief here.

“But we’ve never had an outside chief of police. This is our first time.”

Leach’s experience, which goes back 20 years in Los Angeles, clinched the job for him.

He has been commanding officer in the Harbor Division, which has 250 officers and civilian employees, since April, 1994. He has backed a community-based policing program and a citizen volunteer program in the district, which has had a marked decrease in violent crime in the past two years.

Francis said Leach’s expertise will be put to good use in El Paso, which plans to expand its police force by 30% as well as its community-based policing facilities. The town of 1.3 million has seen a recent drop in crime.

Leach said he has mixed feelings about leaving Los Angeles and the LAPD.

“I’ve always had an ambition to be police chief somewhere, someday,” he said. “An opportunity like this doesn’t come around a lot, and if I passed this by, I think I’d regret it later.”