Column: LAPD’s Michel Moore is (finally) leaving. Here’s what L.A. needs in a new chief
A month ago, not long after the news broke about Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore supposedly ordering a probe of Mayor Karen Bass’ scholarship to USC, a group of Black religious and civic leaders gathered at a church in South L.A. to make some demands.
“If LAPD Chief Moore has directed detectives to investigate our mayor, Karen Bass, based on a personal agenda, we are asking him to resign immediately,†K.W. Tulloss, a pastor and president of Baptist Ministers Conference of Los Angeles, declared to reporters. “And if he does not resign? We’re asking that the L.A. Police Commission to immediately remove him.â€
Afterward, Tulloss told me that, up until then, the Baptist Ministers Conference had a “fairly decent†relationship with Moore.
“But at the end of the day, you know, we’re all supportive of our mayor and any time we feel she’s being undermined, those relationships can change,†he explained. “We have very limited opportunity to get it right. And I believe our mayor is doing her best.â€
“We rarely, you know, step up unless it’s really important,†Tulloss added.
At a news conference with Mayor Karen Bass, the LAPD chief said he would retire at the end of February but continue advising the department as a consultant. The city is expected to conduct a nationwide search for his replacement.
On Friday, Bass and Moore stood before reporters at L.A. City Hall to announce that the chief would step down at the end of February — years earlier than many had expected when he was appointed to a second term just one year ago.
The story is that Moore approached Bass to explain that “his timeline was moving up to spend more time with his family,†the mayor explained. And indeed, Moore choked up repeatedly talking about missing his daughter and wanting to retire and move with his wife to be closer to her in his “golden years.â€
“It has been my distinct honor and privilege to serve for more than four decades on the finest police department in the world and for the last 5½ years as chief,†Moore said.
He will stick around to serve in a “consulting capacity†to whomever the Los Angeles Police Commission selects as an interim replacement, while a nationwide search is conducted for a permanent successor.
In the meantime, I’m sure there will be plenty of speculation that the real reason Moore is leaving is because he crossed Bass — to echo the indignation of those Black religious and civic leaders.
In December, my Times colleagues Libor Jany and Richard Winton revealed a whistleblower complaint, accusing the chief of ordering two LAPD detectives to investigate the then-newly elected mayor over a $95,000 scholarship she received to USC’s social work program.
That scholarship, though awarded years ago, became a point of contention in 2022, when federal prosecutors labeled it as “critical†to their sprawling corruption case against a former USC dean, and Bass’ longtime political ally, former L.A. City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Prosecutors never accused Bass of wrongdoing. But during her campaign for mayor, the powerful Los Angeles Police Protective League spent nearly $2 million on TV ads insinuating that she was guilty of the same sort of quid pro quo corruption that Ridley-Thomas was ultimately convicted of.
So you can see how allegations that Moore wanted to investigate this might strike a nerve.
The chief has repeatedly denied any involvement, angrily doing so again on Friday. Bass, meanwhile, echoed Moore, saying the whistleblower complaint had nothing to do with his decision to retire early and that there was “no daylight†between them — a phrase that seems to be having its moment in Democratic political circles. But I digress.
Two detectives have filed complaints alleging that shortly after Bass was elected, Chief Michel Moore requested an inquiry into the USC scholarship. Moore denied the allegations.
The truth is, none of this political intrigue and posturing really matters. Not to the people of Los Angeles.
There are many far more important reasons that Moore needed to leave early, and just as many reasons to hope that the city can do better for Angelenos with its next chief.
Asked what his successor should prioritize, Moore rattled off a list.
“To listen, to understand the needs of our communities. To understand perceptions,†he said. “To be mindful of the city’s overall efforts to look across Los Angeles [and ask] what does safety mean to you.â€
“To ensure that this department stays on a strategic path,†Moore added. “That we avoid the mistakes that we’ve had in the past. That we don’t try to enforce our way out. That everything is not a police function or police responsibility.â€
I agree with all of that. Too bad that, under Moore’s leadership, the LAPD hasn’t done enough of nearly any of it, even as the department’s budget has continued to swell.
There has been the string of cases involving officer misconduct — from the gang unit cops accused of stealing and making illegal stops, to the assistant chief accused of tracking an officer with whom he’d been involved romantically.
Before that, there was the sloppy work that led an LAPD bomb squad to accidentally blow up an entire South L.A. neighborhood in 2021. After carelessly piling too many fireworks into a containment vessel and then detonating it, cars got flipped, windows were shattered and homes were destroyed, upending the lives of dozens of working-class Latino residents.
And it was a year ago this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend that hundreds headed to Venice and stood outside in a relentless and cold downpour at a vigil for Keenan Anderson, a Black man who went into cardiac arrest and died after LAPD officers tased him repeatedly.
Anderson got the most attention because he was a cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors. But he was just one of three men of color who died in the first few weeks of 2023 after encounters with the LAPD.
The L.A. City Council approved big pay raises to beef up the LAPD and ensure public safety. That crime is already down is apparently beside the point.
All three were in the midst of mental health crises, and in each case, officers inexplicably failed to request mental health workers to help with de-escalation, despite previously agreed-upon reforms.
These cases — along with the many other Angelenos who continue to die or be injured in police shootings, despite the overall decline in crime rates — prompted activists to call for Moore’s resignation. They gathered on the steps of City Hall to call on Bass not to reappoint him to a second five-year term.
But last January, one month after Bass took office as mayor, she supported Moore — but with a few caveats. In a letter to the Police Commission, she called for more reforms at the LAPD.
“All three deaths underscore the need for continued and significant reform of how the City approaches public safety,†Bass wrote.
I’d settle for a new chief who prioritizes enforcing the reforms that are already on the books, whether it’s finally getting a handle on the heavy-handed tactics officers use against activists and journalists during protests, or addressing the apparently still prevalent racial profiling, as detailed in the latest report from California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board.
Melina Abdullah, the founder of Black Lives Matter-L.A. and one of Moore’s fiercest critics, believes it was “the people,†the fed up residents of Los Angeles, who forced the chief’s resignation. And it’s true that even the Baptist Ministers Conference had apparently had enough.
“During my tenure, I know I’ve made mistakes and missteps,†Moore said on Friday. “But I’m also confident that my work has seen success across a broad spectrum of topics unmatched by any other law enforcement agency in this country.â€
L.A. can still do better.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
