Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is expected to announce the selection of Jim McDonnell as the city’s next police chief, ending a months-long investigation process and ushering in a new era for one of the nation’s largest police departments. It will be the beginning of the.

Mr. Bass, who helped enforce federal consent ordinances as deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and later was elected Los Angeles County Sheriff, was chosen for his role in the large-scale national security crisis of the World Cup and Olympics. As the current challenges loom at hand, we are gaining a stable hand. .

But the appointment of McDonnell, who is white, came as a surprise and a disappointment to those who had hoped Bass would appoint the city’s first Latina or woman as chief.

Bass plans to hold a press conference Friday morning at City Hall to formally announce McDonnell’s hiring. Sources who were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the announcement confirmed he was the mayor’s choice.

Mr. McDonnell worked for the Los Angeles Police Department for 28 years, serving as deputy chief under Chief William J. “Bill” Bratton and at times serving as the public face of the department. After his bid for a second term as sheriff failed, McDonnell took a job at USC. McDonnell was widely seen as a possible successor to former Los Angeles Police Department Commissioner Michelle Moore, who resigned earlier this year, but she remained less well-known than other candidates.

McDonnell, director of the Safe Communities Institute at the USC Price School of Public Policy, was one of three finalists selected by the Civilian Police Commission from a pool of more than 25 applicants to lead one of the nation’s largest police departments. Ta.

Other finalists also had strong ties to the Los Angeles Police Department. They are Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides, who heads the department’s southern division, and Robert “Bobby” Arcos, who left the department in 2018 to take a high-ranking position at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Bass said he wants the next police chief to focus on improving officer morale, while also removing barriers to hiring at the LAPD.

The report, released by Bass last month, cited complaints from the public about the department’s disciplinary procedures, grievance system, high stress levels, “inadequate” staffing and the level of support provided after “serious incidents” such as shootings. is focused on. By officers.

“We will use this information not only to find our next police chief, but also to guide us as we move forward with reforms that will support our officers and make Los Angeles safer,” Bass said last month.

During his tenure with the LAPD, McDonnell worked with the city’s diverse communities and political leaders to restore trust in the department after the Rampart corruption scandal of the late 1990s and early 2000s, in which officers committed robberies and murders. He made a name for himself by doing so.

McDonnell, who first ran for chief in 2002, was praised for offering a blueprint for a more grassroots style of policing that sought to balance crime-fighting and community relations. This strategy was later adopted by Bratton and served as the basis for a thorough reform of the organization.

As commissioner, he faces the difficult task of continuing some of his predecessor’s reforms, centered around de-escalation and pretext traffic stops, while addressing deeper-rooted issues. The department has hundreds fewer officers than it did two years ago, and its hiring efforts have so far been ineffective.

Following a spike in incidents at the beginning of the year, most violence categories now have the same or lower numbers than this time last year. However, a series of recent high-profile incidents, including the alleged murder of a man during a city busjacking, have made the spread of illegal activity a constant topic on nightly news programs and social media. .

Police shootings have similarly leveled off, but the department still faces criticism that it is not doing enough to curb officers’ use of force.

Colleagues at the Los Angeles Police Department describe Mr. McDonnell as a polite and well-liked leader.

Despite being out of the department for more than a decade, McDonnell brings “a wide range of experience” to the job, said former Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Sandy Jo MacArthur.

She said the fact that he was already leading the Sheriff’s Office, one of the largest law enforcement agencies, is a good sign that he can step into his new role and be effective from day one.

He is currently the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, a position he has held twice.

The son of working-class Irish immigrants, McDonnell grew up in Boston and moved to Southern California more than 40 years ago.

He attended Don Bosco in Boston, where he considered drafting and architecture, but realized he would never be able to sit at a table. So he headed to Saint Anselm College near Manchester, New Hampshire.

During his senior year of college, he took an internship with the Boston Police Department, expecting to be hired after graduation. But then tax breaks were enacted that curtailed the Boston Police Department’s operations, so McDonnell moved west.

He joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1981 at the age of 21 and worked his way up through the ranks, serving in patrol, detective, lieutenant, gang, organized crime, homicide, and other divisions.

For McDonnell, it was the vindication of his long-awaited innocence.

He twice applied for the Los Angeles Police Department chief position, losing to Bratton in 2002 and to Charlie Beck in 2009.

In 2014, longtime sheriff Lee Baca stepped down amid a series of scandals, including federal indictments against sheriffs on charges ranging from assaulting prison inmates to concealing prison informants from the FBI. He was elected to succeed him as Los Angeles County Sheriff. Eighteen employees faced criminal charges under Baca’s watch, and the department was found to have employed members with criminal records, including Baca’s own nephew.

A year before winning the election, he publicly considered running, but ultimately decided against it. His job raising money for countywide elections takes him away from his family and his duties in Long Beach. He entered the race following the sudden retirement of embattled former Sheriff Baca.

Some critics say Mr. McDonnell was an effective leader but did not do enough to address the problems that surfaced during Baca’s administration.

In Long Beach, McDonnell’s force was much smaller than the Los Angeles Police Department but faced similar concerns about staffing shortages. He has also been criticized for the increase in police-involved shootings and the beating of an unarmed man in 2013.

After serving one term, he was replaced by Alex Villanueva in a stunning election upset for a seat that had not been defeated by an incumbent in more than 100 years. He then joined the exodus of senior law enforcement officials to academia.

At last year’s USC forum on crime in the subway system, McDonnell called for a multifaceted crime response that connects people seeking help with services, starting with hiring more police officers and pushing for tougher penalties. We talked about sex.

A survey of Los Angeles residents conducted by Loyola Marymount University found that some black and Latino residents are satisfied with the LAPD’s overall performance, even though they perceive disparities in how police are policed. was shown to be higher than in recent years.

Finding the city’s next police chief is one of the most high-profile decisions any mayor makes.

Bass said she was surprised by the general feedback she received from rank-and-file staff, who seemed to openly support an outside chief, unlike other recent chief searches.

“I expected the officers to be pretty well-doughed as internal candidates, but that wasn’t the case,” she said. “I think the biggest concern from a police officer’s perspective is their morale. And I thought that was due to the community’s perception of law enforcement. That’s true, but more important. It was a deterioration of morale due to internal corruption.”The Los Angeles Police Department system. ”

During the community forum, many attendees called for choosing an insider like L.A. Bass who is familiar with policing in a vast and diverse city, but the next chief will address one of the chief complaints of police officers: He said it was important to do so. The department’s much-maligned disciplinary system creates double standards for senior officials.

Last month, Bass released a report detailing months of research into what civil rights groups, neighborhood council members, Los Angeles Police Department officials and others want from the next chief.