Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Wednesday that she intends to pick the city’s next police chief by the end of the month, but declined for now to name the finalists that were forwarded to her office two weeks ago.
Bass said she had not yet interviewed any of the finalists sent to her by the Police Commission, the five-person civilian body that oversees the Los Angeles Police Department.
The names were quietly passed on to Bass on Aug. 21, the same day that the Commission wrapped up its final interviews with several finalists behind closed doors. Commissioners have refused to reveal the identities of the front-runners — reflecting the secrecy that has enshrouded much of the the search process. The circle of people who have been briefed on the final list of candidates appears to be quite small, with even senior LAPD officials and longtime consultants reportedly being kept in the dark.
The finalists will now compete to replace former Chief Michel Moore, who retired unexpectedly in February after after 5½ years on the job. The monthslong search to find his successor has created a palpable air of anticipation within the country’s third largest police force.
Speaking to The Times on Wednesday, Bass said that she hadn’t yet “talked to any of the candidates so I don’t know how they feel” about being publicly identified.
“Right now, I don’t plan on that, but I do plan on making a decision in the month of September,” Bass said. “I think it’s a question as to whether those individuals would like their names released, I think I need to be sensitive to that.”
Asked whether she would give a breakdown of whether the finalists were insiders, outsiders or a mix of both, Bass replied simply: “No.”
Bass followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, Eric Garcetti, who also bucked precedent by withholding the names of finalists during the last chief’s search in 2018.
Bass however laid out some of her priorities for the next chief, which included:…