Blue Ribbon Committee Report
Selection Criteria for Chief of Police
... 13 applicants make today's cut

August 27

The process of selecting the next Chief of Police for the City of Los Angeles moved ahead today when the Report on Selection Criteria for the next Chief of Police was delivered to the Board of Police Commissioners by the Blue Ribbon Committee it had created a few weeks ago to solidify community input (see the article Chief Selection Process).

After a public presentation, the Commission went into Closed Session with the group, and was able to cut to 13 the number of applicants who remain on their quickly narrowing list.

Because this is a personnel matter, the list of candidates who remain will not be released ... and nor will interview information.

But Commission President Rick Caruso emerged after the Close Session to announce the remaining group of 13 applicants was gender diverse. He indicated the Board's intention to move ahead carefully, but quickly, to produce in ranked order a final list of six candidates, which will be sent 3 at a time to the Mayor.

In May and June a total of seven Commission sponsored community criteria meetings had been held throughout Los Angeles, and over 4,000 completed Commission questionaires had been gathered prior to the Committee being selected.

EDITOR'S NOTE: LA Community Policing attended all seven community criteria meetings and did reports for this website on each of them. At their request, these reports were all combined, printed and provided to the Commission (see the article Choosing a Chief).

Committee members Albert DeBlanc and Ann Reiss Lane presented the Commission with an overview of the Report (for bio information, see the article Blue Ribbon Committee).

Included in their remarks today was the Committee's recommendation that the Board go far beyond just looking at resumes and doing applicant interviews. They stated that the process as the Commission moves forward should include in depth background checks as well as interviews of the applicant's past associates.

A candidate's past experience is deemed most important, and should be considered thoroughly before the list of three names is forwarded to the Mayor.

According to the Committee, the new Chief should, among other things:

	have leadership abilities needed to win the respect of the troops,
	be dedicated to crime fighting and community policing,
	be committed to the need for change at LAPD,
	have a vision for strategic planning and astute managerial skills,
	have knowledge of the Department and the City, and
	be understanding of the cultural mix of Los Angeles.

Special thanks were given to Ann Park and Connie Rice for the work they did preparing the final Report, the full version of which will remain confidential.

Apparently the Report includes specific questions to be asked each of the applicants, and the Commission believes that these should be kept private so as not to give any candidates an unfair advantage.

As one Commission staffer put it to me, "That would be like giving away the questions on a test."

However, we've reproduced the three page overview which was released for you below:

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Blue Ribbon Committee Report
Selection Criteria for Chief of Police

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August 27, 2002

To: The Members Of The Board of Police Commissioners For The City of Los Angeles

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We are pleased to present to the Board of Police Commissioners ("Board") the Report of The Blue Ribbon Committee On Selection Criteria For The Chief Of Police (the "Committee"). This Report responds to your charge to us to recommend standards to be applied in assessing the candidates for appointment as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department ("LAPD"). We recommend that the Selection Criteria outlined in the Report be employed by the Board and the Mayor in making the critically important decision of selecting the new Chief.

Our assignment has been to:

In addition to the knowledge and experience brought to the process be Committee members, the Committee's sources of information included: a public survey of nearly 4,000 residents conducted by the City of Los Angeles Police Personnel Department; a report of public comments received by the Board during community meetings held throughout the City; interviews with current and former members of the LAPD, law enforcement experts, and community leaders with expertise in policing issues; and statements, reports, and articles provided by interviewees and experts.

In the course of the Committee's interviews, meetings and investigations, certain central themes important to the selection of the new Chief emerged. Those central themes, which represent the focus of the Selection Criteria the Committee has developed, are the following:

	Leadership is the single most important ability required of the new Chief. The Department is in need of a leader who inspires instant respect among the command and rank-and-file. In the words of one LAPD leader, "The new Chief has to win the hearts and minds of the troops quickly and establish immediate credibility." The new Chief must rally the Department and the City behind a more effective crime-fighting paradigm centered around the continued transformation of the Department from an aggressive command-and-control crime-suppression culture to a problem-solving, community-based policing culture that focuses on crime prevention and reduction. In the words of one speaker, the new Chief must inspire a culture that will connect with the community. .
	The new Chief must be committed to the need for change, and must have a vision and a strategic plan for implementing change. The new Chief must be able to direct and motivate changes that will improve crime control and prevention, improve police service, and prevent police misconduct, all within the context of community policing. The new Chief must be able to work with the community, political leaders, other law enforcement agencies, and Department members to direct resources to the Department and allocate those resources efficiently and fairly. The new Chief must be able to restore morale within the LAPD while restoring the community's confidence and trust in the Department. .
	The new Chief should be dedicated to improving the Department and to serving the City. He or she should reject any view of the Chief of Police position as a stepping stone to higher office. He or she should know the Los Angeles Police Department, and understand its formal and informal cultures and history. He or she must have an emotional connection to the well-being of the community. .
	The new Chief must be an astute manager, both skilled at the day-to-day management of a large and complex organization, and adept and responding to crises and challenges. He or she must be decisive and have the courage to do the right thing, and yet be open, flexible and fair in his or her decision-making processes. The new Chief should develop support for his or her decisions by inviting input from others. He or she should operate by a team management process, create a work environment that encourages problem-solving and innovation. The new Chief should delegate certain functions to trusted subordinates, while maintaining overall responsibility for leading the Department, providing vision, and implementing the strategic plan. The new Chief must demand results. .
	The new Chief must have the political savvy to know how to get things done in Los Angeles. He or she must have the managerial skills to run a large and complex police department. .
	The new Chief must be culturally competent. He or she must understand and be prepared to meet the challenges presented to the chief law enforcement officer of the most culturally, ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse City in the world. He or she must be committed to full police access and service to all persons in the City, and all regions of the City. He or she must be committed to the recruitment, retention, and promotion of a diverse police force, which reflects the full diversity of our City.

In developing the Selection Criteria for the next Chief of Police, the Committee has identified eight critical core abilities, or "Competencies," fully defined in our Report, which must be possessed by the new Chief. Those Competencies are the following:

The Committee believes that those eight Competencies should be evaluated in the context of the specific Substantive Areas that must be the focus of the new Chief. Those principal Substantive Areas of concern, as identified by interviewees and source materials, include, but are not limited to, the following:

The Appendices to the Report summarize the observations of interviewees on the Substantive Areas. The Appendices also suggest specific questions designed to help determine the candidate's Competencies in the context of his or her experience, knowledge, and vision in each of the Substantive Areas.

Finally, our most experienced experts strongly urged that the selection process go beyond resumes and interviews to include comprehensive background investigations and interviews of people who have worked above, for, and with the candidates. Furthermore, all emphasize the evaluation of past performance as the most reliable indicator of future success.

The Committee believes that the stage is set for a new, transforming era in the Los Angeles Police Department and for law enforcement in the City of Los Angeles. Whether this transformation occurs is heavily dependent upon the care with which the new Chief is selected. We have done our best, in a limited period of time, to identify the principal standards and the framework that should be used t make this selection. We very much hope that the Board and the Mayor find this Report useful and will employ the Selection Criteria in conducting their critically important work of selecting the next Police Chief for the City of Los Angeles. To that process go our very best wishes and hopes for every success.

We thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Sincerely,

The Members of the Blue Ribbon Committee