Leadership Qualities Are a Low Priority in the Hunt for the New Los Angeles Police Department Chief

Like many major cities with crime problems, police chiefs are not selected on their ability to reduce crime and violence but their support of political agendas

Feb 20, 2024

Los Angeles selected Assistant Chief Dominic Choi as the interim chief as a search is conducted internally and externally for a permanent chief. At the press conference announcing Choi temporarily assuming the role of Los Angeles Chief of Police, he stated that he would “ensure that we are prepared and ready for increasing, ongoing demonstrations and protests throughout the city” and “promised to avoid major changes during his tenure – an approach (Mayor Karen) Bass said she supported – and said he would concentrate on the need to boost the size of the department’s ranks.”

Choi was promoted to deputy chief in 2019 after serving as a commander and the homeless coordinator. From deputy chief, he was promoted to assistant chief. The search for an interim chief was a serious process considered by the Los Angeles Police Commission that involved lengthy interviews of internal and external candidates.

"Chief Choi is uniquely qualified to lead the department at this time ... his institutional knowledge and his leadership priorities are fully aligned with the Mayor's and Commission's vision for the LAPD," (Los Angeles Police Commission President Erroll) Southers said.

The Los Angeles Times reports: “Two people thought to be early front-runners are current members of the senior staff, Assistant Chief Blake Chow and Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides. Another is an outsider, Art Acevedo, who has run police departments in Austin and Houston in Texas and, briefly, Miami.”

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Mayor Bass acts coy who she wants to helm the department, but then she broadcasts her guardrails:

‘“I absolutely think that the city is ready for its first woman chief,” said Bass, the first woman elected mayor. Bass said she wants “a leader of the department who will be absolutely committed to community-based policing to understand the value of having partners, for example, when it comes to mental health.” Bass said she is also looking for someone who will recognize emergencies where armed police are not the best response, and be willing to work with service providers to reach the people who are most in need.’

Crime is rampant

Listening to Mayor Bass, you may think that the City of Los Angeles doesn’t have a crime problem. In fact, you would get the impression that the majority of the problems in the city are within the police department. That is not the prevailing impression of Californians in Los Angeles.

CalMatters reports: “In a Public Policy Institute of California survey last fall, two-thirds of Californians said they viewed crime as a serious problem. In Los Angeles, by far the state’s biggest hub of crime, 69% of residents said they considered violence and street crime as either a serious or significant problem.”

Crime in L.A. is no secret. Videos of brazen thefts, where teams of masked youth orchestrate smash and grabs, during business hours, stealing six figures worth of merchandise in multiple coordinated hits, are shared worldwide.

“Citywide, property crimes are mostly level in recent years — down just 1.3% since 2021. But personal and other thefts have increased 14% this year and are up 42% from this time two years ago. That’s a genuine crime surge, even if it is occurring during a lull in violent crimes.”

Homicides are down. Down from a 37.1 increase in 2020 with 351 and a 13.7 increase in 2021. They’ve dropped from 402 in 2021, to 392 in 2022 and then down 17% to 327 in 2023. Still, it’s 77 more lives lost to criminal violence than in 2013, but cooking the books by using advantageous year to year comparisons makes politicians look good.

No desire for police chief leadership qualities

While there is a process to locate a permanent chief, the Los Angeles Police Commission also had a formal process to identify an internal or external candidate to serve as interim chief. Choi was selected and I can’t help but think that he may consider himself in the running for the ‘permanent’ position.

While this could have been a dress rehearsal for top job, and he may well get the appointment, he has made the commitments that preclude him from demonstrating the desperately needed leadership that the position demands. To get the interim job, he had to make commitments to the commission, including to ‘not make any major changes’ while serving in this temporary capacity.

As mentioned earlier, “Interim Chief Choi, at his first press conference, promised to avoid major changes during his tenure – an approach Bass said she supported – and said he would concentrate on the need to boost the size of the department’s ranks.”

According to outgoing Police Chief Michel Moore, LAPD’s current personnel strength stands at 9,011 officers, almost 1,000 fewer than 2019. He said this depletion has limited the department’s response to calls for service and impacted its visibility.

“Dominic Choi will be a leader who will steady the ship,” Bass said. “He is not coming in to make drastic changes, during the time that he is an interim though we will be doing an assessment of the department and recommendations will be made for the next chief.

No space for a leader

The mayor and the commission are content with a department head who prioritizes their agenda, an agenda with a number of anti-police positions. Mayor Bass increased the budget of the community violence intervention program, Gang Reduction and Youth Development, with an additional $13,000,000 to ensure that all entry-level community intervention workers make a minimum of $60,000 per year. It’s worthy of note that many of these ‘credible messenger’ street outreach workers, who are convicted felons and supposedly ‘former’ gang members have not fully abandoned criminality.

I’ve made the case previously that community violence intervention programs are both the ‘defund the police’ movement and the police replacement process.

Mayor Bass also created the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety to address crime through community-led approaches to increase safety and wellbeing. $50 million dollars have been distributed to organizations to provide violence prevention and intervention, as well as diversion and anti-recidivism services to help Angelenos successfully reenter and remain in their communities after being incarcerated.

But these crime problems, especially youth crime and victimization are not only happening in Los Angeles. They are happening all over this country. Hannah Meyer writes about Chicago:

“His (Mayor Brandon Johnson’s) policy transition plan, released last week, lays out five public safety goals for Chicago: none of these directly involve either reducing crime or strengthening enforcement. The details include expanding 'anti-racist work' in schools and investing 'in community-driven housing.' No wonder since he took office in May, total crime has already risen 32 percent, carjackings 133 percent, and youth homicides are twice their total this time last year.”

The story is the same in Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and even with retired NYPD Captain, Mayor Eric Adams in NYC. Chiefs and commissioners are being appointed based on their compliance in following ludicrous directives out of city hall. I’m no fan of ShotSpotter but Mayor Johnson pulled the plug claiming racial disparity. Big city mayors don’t want gutsy leadership from their police chiefs, only compliance with their agendas.

Chief Choi, promoted from his assignment as homeless coordinator to deputy chief in 2019, may fit in quite well in the Bass administration. We can be assured there will not be any demonstration of courageous leadership, of making bold moves and taking risks, during his tenure in the chief’s office.

Paula Minor, an organizer with Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles shared:

“What type of individual you select may not make a significant difference in the outcome or the changes that you need in the department,” Minor said. At the same time, she said, a change at the top would be a step toward rooting out “a level of incompetence that’s kind of just tolerated.”

Please pray for all our peace officers, especially those with the LAPD.