Dozens to Compete for LAPD Leadership

As the filing deadline closed Friday for LAPD chief applicants, city officials said 47 people had declared their interest in the job, and the Los Angeles Police Commission appointed a panel of local residents to help develop the criteria for selecting the department’s next leader.

The 15-member committee, a culturally and ethnically diverse group of community members, will sift through the thousands of suggestions from the public regarding how the next chief should be chosen, according to police commissioners who will oversee the process.

The commission would not release the names of those who have applied for the post, but some of the leading contenders have made their candidacies public. They include a number of candidates from within the LAPD, as well as some outsiders and some who used to work for the department and are seeking to return as chief.

Among the most prominent candidates from outside the LAPD who are applying for the position are: Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker, a former LAPD assistant chief; Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez, who also served with the LAPD; and former New York Police Commissioner William Bratton.

LAPD Assistant Chief David J. Gascon, who served as chief of staff to former Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, submitted his application Friday. LAPD Deputy Chiefs David Kalish and Margaret York also have applied for the post. Other LAPD applicants include commanders George Gascon, Betty Kelepecz and Jim McDonnell.

Sifting through those applications begins next week as the Police Commission will convene the community panel to begin what officials say they hope will be a quick review, resulting in a new chief as early as September.

“These community members will give us an additional perspective, and the more information in a process like this, the better,” said Police Commission President Rick Caruso.

The commission will begin interviewing finalists in the third week of August, after which it will send a list of the top three candidates to Mayor James K. Hahn, who will make the final decision. Hahn, who has said he wants the next chief to cooperate with the department’s civilian overseers, has the option of choosing one of those three candidates or of asking the commission to supply him with more names.

The panel began looking for a new police chief after voting 4-1 in April to deny Parks’ request for a second five-year term. Parks stepped down shortly after the commission vote, prompting the city to appoint retired Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy as head of the department until a permanent replacement could be found.

The job announcement describes the ideal candidate as someone with “considerable experience working with diverse communities” and in “inspiring and motivating” officers.

The committee members are:

William Allen, founder of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley; Albert DeBlanc, a former LAPD sergeant and currently a member of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission; Miguel Contreras, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and Jeff Donfeld, an attorney and founding member of Chabad of Pacific Palisades.

Also, Patricia Glaser, an attorney and community activist; Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project; Howard Halm, an attorney and former president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Assn.; Lorri Jean, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; and Ann Reiss Lane, a former member of the Police Commission and currently chair of Women Against Gun Violence.

Also, Ann I. Park, an attorney and president of the Korean American Bar Assn.; Page Miller, a community activist; Connie Rice, a civil rights attorney and head of the Advancement Project; Luis Rodriguez, a public defender and former president of the Mexican American Bar Assn.; and Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, senior pastor at Faithful Central Bible Church.