In Kroeker, L.A. Loses a Top-Notch Cop

Tonight, Mark Kroeker is scheduled to attend the first official dinner in his new job as a police advisor in Bosnia. The affable former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department left his Newhall home last week after 32 years as a cop to tackle new challenges in a war-torn country on the other side of the world.

Kroeker is no stranger to challenges. After police officers were videotaped beating motorist Rodney King, Kroeker was assigned to head the Valley Bureau and won over neighborhoods long suspicious of men and women with badges. He won similar praise in his assignment to South Bureau before he lost out on the top job to Chief Bernard Parks earlier this year.

Anyone who met Kroeker--even briefly--understood why he was such a popular figure in Los Angeles. Unlike so many public officials, Kroeker seemed to really listen when people spoke. It was just the thing Los Angeles needed as it attempted to cope with the aftermath of the 1992 riots. The son of missionaries, Kroeker remains deeply committed to the notion that police work can change society for the better. Despite the change of jobs, “I’m still a cop,” Kroeker said last week before heading to Washington and New York on his way to Bosnia.

Indeed. And if he continues to be the kind of top-notch cop in Bosnia that he was in Los Angeles--tough, honest, fair, caring--Kroeker will do just fine.