Police Commission to delay vote on LAPD chief’s request for reappointment

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has tapped the brakes a bit on Police Chief Michel Moore’s bid for another term, securing a delay in a vote by the Board of Police Commissioners on his request for reappointment.

Commission President William J. Briggs II said in a statement Friday that the board will still discuss Moore’s request for a second five-year term at its Jan. 10 meeting, which was announced earlier this week. However, the commission no longer plans to cast a vote on Moore’s reappointment during that session.

“Mayor Bass wants the chief to be discussed at the January 10 meeting,” Briggs said. “The vote will be taken at a later date.”

Moore submitted a letter seeking a second and final term on Monday. A day later, Briggs announced his panel was planning a Jan. 10 up-or-down vote on Moore’s request, prompting some to argue that the decision was being rushed.

Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl said Friday that the mayor sought the delay and provided Briggs “guidance” on the reappointment process.

“The mayor provided this guidance because she feels a vote on the first meeting following the chief’s request is too soon,” Seidl said.

Under the City Charter, the decision on whether to reappoint a police chief rests with the five-member commission, whose members are selected by the mayor. At this point, all five of the commissioners are holdovers from the administration of former Mayor Eric Garcetti, whom Bass succeeded three weeks ago.

Bass has not yet nominated her own set of police commissioners, focusing instead on the issue of homelessness. She declared a state of emergency on her first day as mayor and has been rolling out new initiatives for responding to the humanitarian crisis.

Moore’s reappointment request is among the most important hiring decisions Bass will face during her first year at City Hall. She said this week that she would meet with Moore to discuss her vision to “keep Angelenos safe in every neighborhood.” Briggs, in his statement, suggested the mayor also wants to keep the reappointment process moving.

“She has made it clear to me that she wants to move expeditiously on whether Chief Moore is reappointed,” he said.

Briggs has already come out in favor of a second term for Moore, telling The Times earlier this week that a majority of the commission’s members “have confidence in him to carry out what the mayor would want.”

Commissioner Steve Soboroff, one of Bass’ political allies, has also signaled his support for Moore, saying in an interview that “there’s no better chief in the U.S.”

“He understands community policing and police reform better than any chief in America,” Soboroff said. “Also, he has a very, very deep understanding of the perfect storm of new challenges — the homeless crisis, the mental health crisis, the drug crisis.”

Earlier this week, Soboroff said he too expected the commission to vote Jan. 10 on Moore’s reappointment request. On Friday, he said he did not know what the new date would be but predicted it will be “very soon.”

Moore needs just three votes to secure a second term. However, the City Council also has the authority to weigh in if its members disagree with the commission’s action.

Under the City Charter, the council could assert jurisdiction over the commission’s decision and — if there are 10 votes — veto it.

California

LAPD Chief Michel Moore seeks a second five-year term

In a letter to the Police Commission, the city’s top cop said he has a “strong desire to continue leading this Department as it strives to reduce the incidence of violent crime, while working in partnership with the community and City family.”

Dec. 27, 2022

Moore, who became police chief in 2018, said in his reappointment letter that he hopes to use his second term to rebuild staffing levels, modernize the department’s aging computer systems and oversee security preparations for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games. The chief also said he wants to create a succession plan for the department’s leadership and reduce violent crime.

Homicides are down nearly 6% compared with the previous year, according to LAPD figures covering the year through Dec. 24, and the number of shooting victims is down 9%. At the same time, robberies are up 7% and burglaries have increased by more than 12%.

In recent years, the LAPD has faced sharp criticism over heavy-handed tactics deployed against demonstrators and a sharp increase in police shootings. The department has also had high-profile, and at times deadly, failures.

In 2021, the LAPD’s bomb squad botched the detonation of illegal fireworks in a South L.A. neighborhood, causing such widespread damage that scores of people were displaced. Months later, an LAPD officer accidentally killed a 14-year-old girl while seeking to apprehend a man who had been assaulting customers in a North Hollywood department store.

The family of that girl, Valentina Orellana-Peralta, filed a lawsuit against the city and the officer earlier this year. Daniel Elena-Lopez, the man being sought by police, was also shot and later died.

The commission’s initial plan to vote on Moore on Jan. 10 drew some criticism in recent days. Paula Minor, an organizer with Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, said she had little faith in the panel’s ability, or willingness, to judge Moore’s performance so soon after he submitted his request.

“I do think there needs to be more public input,” she said.

Minor said she does not believe Moore deserves a second term. She described Garcetti’s police commissioners as a “rubber stamp body.”

Soboroff called that idea “insulting,” saying the commission has had “a lot of 4-1 votes, 3-2 votes.”

“To say that it’s a rubber stamp is uninformed,” he said.