Okay, we did our best to give you helpful hints, without actually revealing the names of the three finalists for the job of leading the Los Angeles Police Department after Chief Charlie Beck retires on June 27.
We held off because we knew San Francisco Police Chief William (Bill) Scott was trying to avoid having his name confirmed because of his existing employment.
But now that the metaphorical cat is irretrievably out of the bag, and the names have become public, we can discuss the trio of choices the police commission has given Mayor Eric Garcetti.
LAPD First Assistant Chief Mike Moore
The trio of contenders are:
First Assistant Chief Mike Moore, the guy who is the second in command at the department, right under Chief Beck, and the person to whom Charlie Beck hands the keys to the agency when out of town.
LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Arcos
Deputy Chief Robert Arcos, the head of the department’s highly varied but often headache-producing Central Bureau, which includes downtown Los Angeles—AKA the heart of the city’s homelessness crisis.
SFPD Chief Bill Scott
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott, the former Deputy Chief of the city’s vibrant but complicated South Bureau until he drove north to take over SFPD in January 2017, as that agency was reeling with an impressive string of scandals.
Let the handicapping begin!
Obviously, i really missed the boat last week when i predicted that sandra jo macaurther would become the next chief of lapd although it remains a technical possibility.
If the mayor told the board of police commissioners that he doesn’t like any of the 3 candidates, then they must send Garcetti another list of 3 applicants to choose from. If Sandy Mac made it on to the 2nd list, then my prediction would be in play again.
However, if Garcetti wasn’t happy with the first list of 3 candidates, he probably would have already sent it back. So, its almost certain he will select from the list already in his hand.
I predict Garcetti gives it to Arcos.
Once again, I base the prediction on looking at which selection earns the most useful political points for Garcetti in light of making a run for election to national office.
Garcetti’s political style emphasizes consensus, attempts to minimize conflict.
He will want to make his final choice without being seen as a rejection of the 2 runners-up.
Bill Scott’s name as a finalist provides a public relations insurance policy at little to no cost.
Garcetti can claim that no candidate was more qualified than the african-american finalist, yet not select him out of a reluctance to deny San Francisco the services of their new chief at a critical point for that great city.
I’m not even sure why Scott applied for Beck’s job. I could even believe he was persuaded to apply just for the purpose of token identity politics, or does Scott really want the job so badly as to bail on his commitment to SFPD so quickly?
Scott will need to mend some fences if he is staying at SFPD.
And if the shade gets thrown from L.A. to cover Scott as soon as Arcos is picked, then i would tend to believe Scott’s application was a calculated p.r. charade from the start.
Shade for Scott would mean Councilman Wesson, or Price, or Dawson-Harris announcing that he had personally implored Bill Scott to submit his application to the LAPD Commissioners and that Scott himself has no desire to abrogate his commitment to SFPD.
So that leaves only Michel Moore for Garcetti to not choose without it looking like a rejection.
We’ll soon know if Mayor Garcetti found a way to choose Hispanic(Arcos) and pull-off an immaculate of rejection of Black(Scott) and White(Moore)
A bit of trivia on the Garcetti-Arcos link.
Robert Arcos spent his teenage years in Northeast Los Angeles where he lived off Fletcher Avenue just north of the L.A. River.
From 2001 – 2013, Eric Garcetti was the Los Angeles City Councilman for the 13th District where he lived in a hilltop residence on Hidalgo Street off Fletcher Avenue just south of the L.A. river where he could literally almost spit on to the roof of Arcos childhood abode.
I put all my chips on Robert Arcos after a peek at his twitter.
The Catholic Church can flex some big muscle in the back rooms of Los Angeles politics when it needs to.
Last week, as it was announced the LAPD Board of Commissioners had sent their list of 3 final applicants to Mayor Garcetti,
Robert Arcos was conducting roll call in Central Division,
with an invocation from his special guest His Excellency
ArchBishop Jose Gomez.
I do not bet against the Vatican.
I still say the black guy is the safe bet. Your arguments are sound but I still have to believe Garcetti is looking at bigger and better things ,POTOUS is in play.
Excuse me- POTUS
Speculation is random at best.
Latinos have surpassed blacks across the nation as the largest minority voting block, much more so in blue and swing states. I don’t think the black guy is a safe bet at all.