LOS ANGELES _ Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Monday that he has chosen Michel Moore, a 36-year LAPD veteran known for his mastery of subjects from crime statistics to budgets, to be the city's next police chief.
Moore, 57, who runs the department's patrol operations, was one of three finalists chosen by the civilian Police Commission from a field of 31 applicants for chief of one of the nation's largest police departments.
The other finalists were also LAPD veterans: Deputy Chief Robert Arcos, who runs the department's Central Bureau, and Bill Scott, who left L.A. 1 { years ago to lead the troubled San Francisco Police Department.
Moore "doesn't need to hit the ground running. He's already running," Garcetti said at an afternoon news conference to announce the selection.
Arcos, a third-generation Mexican-American, had the backing of some powerful Latino politicians and would have been the first Latino police chief of a city that is nearly 50 percent Latino. Scott is African-American and has strong ties in South Los Angeles after heading the LAPD's South Bureau.
Councilman Gil Cedillo and a group of former elected officials from L.A.'s Eastside had argued that the hiring of Arcos would send a message at a time when the Trump administration has "declared war" on immigrant communities.
Moore's father was Basque, and he is listed on department rosters as Hispanic. Unlike Arcos or Scott, he does not have a strong ethnic constituency or ability to viscerally connect with minority youth. But for Garcetti, who is contemplating a run for president, Moore offers the security of a proven administrator who has headed every major branch of the Los Angeles Police Department.
He must still be confirmed by the City Council, which is expected to support the mayor's pick.
With President Donald Trump enforcing hard-line immigration policies, Moore faces the challenge of building trust among Latino residents who may fear that anyone in a law enforcement uniform is out to deport them.
The new chief will also face unprecedented public scrutiny on his department's use of force policy, sparked by the fatal shootings of black people in police encounters nationwide, including some controversial shootings by LAPD officers.
The LAPD has made strides in improving its once-abysmal relationships with black residents. But, according to a 2016 survey commissioned by the LAPD, African-Americans have significantly less trust in police officers than other residents do, with only a third saying that people of all races or ethnicities are treated fairly. Black Lives Matter activists have been a regular presence at Police Commission meetings, often disrupting the proceedings and calling for LAPD Chief Charlie Beck to be fired.
When Beck announced his retirement in January, Garcetti said there were many good candidates for chief who were from the LAPD or had recently left the agency. The police commissioners chose the three finalists from that pool _ an indication that they want the LAPD to continue on the course set by Beck, who also had been a department insider, in his nearly nine years as chief.
Beck's last day on the job is June 27.
There was speculation that perhaps the moment was ripe for the city's first female police chief. But an early favorite, Assistant Chief Beatrice Girmala, did not apply, and retired Assistant Chief Sandy Jo MacArthur did not make the final three.
All three finalists came of age as young cops during an era of policing that emphasized crackdowns and arrests.
They have since disavowed that strategy, rising through the ranks of a department that has recast itself as a kinder, gentler LAPD. All three support similar goals: strengthening ties with residents, investing in youth sports and academic programs, assuring immigrants that the LAPD wants to help them, not deport them.
Moore, who has made no secret of his desire to lead a police department, faced the possibility of becoming a perennial also-ran. In 2009, the Police Commission ranked him highest of three finalists for L.A. chief before Beck got the job. Moore was recently a finalist for the top jobs in Dallas and San Diego.
As a boy growing up with six siblings, Moore moved constantly while his parents looked for work. He remembers a Christmas night in Flint, Mich., when officials came to repossess the family station wagon. While living in Arkansas, his stepfather suggested that he stop using his Basque last name, Sanchotena, because of the racial prejudice there. He has been Michel Moore ever since, with "Michel" pronounced like "Michael."
As a young police officer, Moore pulled the trigger in two shootings.
At a downtown loading dock in 1985, he shot a man who pointed a handgun at truck drivers and then aimed at him, according to a report by then-Chief Daryl Gates. The man survived, and Gates found that the shooting complied with department policy.
A year later, while moonlighting as a security guard at a shopping mall in the San Fernando Valley, Moore killed a man who was firing a semiautomatic rifle in the parking lot. With parked cars obscuring his view, Moore was unsure what the man was firing at. The man pointed the rifle at Moore, who fatally shot him in the head, according to a report by Gates. It later became clear that the man was shooting at his ex-wife, killing her.
Gates praised Moore for "excellent self-control and constraint" but criticized him for not wearing a ballistic vest or carrying extra ammunition. Moore received the LAPD's Medal of Valor, awarded to officers who display courage in the face of imminent peril.
At that point, he said, he was happy to join the department's DARE program and teach kids about the dangers of drugs. Later, as a sergeant, Moore got his first taste of the wonky data-crunching he would become known for, creating the department's first automated crime-mapping system.
After stints in internal affairs, Wilshire Division and vice, he was tapped to lead Rampart Division in 1998, the day after Officer Rafael Perez was arrested in a corruption scandal that came to define the department in that era. Officers in Rampart thought Perez was wrongly accused, Moore said. As a newly minted captain, he had to persuade them to abandon the "Rampart way" and start doing things the LAPD way.
Under Chief William J. Bratton, Moore was deputy chief of West Bureau and then Valley Bureau. Soon after taking control of the department, Beck promoted Moore to assistant chief. Moore rotated through special operations, which includes detectives, counterterrorism and SWAT; administrative services, including the behind-the-scenes realms of budget, personnel and training; and his current position, patrol operations.
Moore is by all accounts a demanding boss who expects his subordinates to be as versed in every detail as he is. Yet, he leavens his high expectations with his recollections of what it was like to be grilled by an unforgiving superior.
At weekly CompStat meetings, where LAPD commanding officers discuss crime statistics and crime-fighting strategies, Moore asks detailed questions of station captains but does not humiliate them. He emails the topics he will cover _ whether robberies, burglaries or auto thefts _ to the captains in advance. He says he wants to work with them to find solutions to seemingly impossible problems.
Moore has been at the forefront of the LAPD's efforts to reduce fatal shootings by encouraging officers to use Tasers and beanbag shotguns. He recently proposed a system to quantify positive community interactions such as public meetings and roll calls held on city streets.
Moore, who lives in Santa Clarita, has said he will move to L.A. if he becomes chief.
