chiefmcdonnell

chiefmcdonnell

File photo of LBPD Chief Jim McDonnell by Sarah Bennett

The L.A. Times broke the news on its front page today that Long Beach Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell was considering a run against current Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca next year. And according to the Press-Telegram, the chief was first  “tapped by interested parties” while serving on a county commission that last year harshly criticized Baca for his mismanagement of public jails.

Though he is still discussing the idea with his family and has not yet made a formal bid for the position, McDonnell told the L.A. Times that he could offer a new perspective for the Sheriff’s Department and implement reforms to change the image of the agency. He would need to make an official bid by next month. 

Baca’s handling of the jail committee criticism–as well as several Department scandals–could open up the top sheriff job in 2014, a position experts say is usually secure to incumbents. A spokesperson for Baca, who ran unopposed for his fourth term in 2010, said that the idea of a competitor doesn’t phase him, citing the endorsements of Governor Brown, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslovsky and former Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton. 

Chief McDonnell served 29 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, eventually serving as second in command under Bratton before taking over LBPD in 2010. During his time there, he helped implement a community-based policing project that was later used by Bratton to help overhaul the department after the Rampart corruption scandal and helped build bridges to the city’s diverse communities. 

Today, McDonnell oversees 1500 employees as the top cop in America’s most diverse city, clocking record-low violent crime statistics in each of the last three years. 

“[The Sheriff’s Department is] a large agency, the challenges that they are facing are immense,” McDonnell told the Press-Telegram. “It’s certainly an opportunity for someone with fresh eyes to come in and modify, to make some changes for the department and the community it serves,” McDonnell said.

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