Jim McDonnell appointed LAPD chief with Los Angeles City Council vote

Jim McDonnell has been appointed chief of the Los Angeles Police Department through an 11-2 vote by the city council Friday. 

Following a nationwide search, Mayor Karen Bass nominated McDonnell to take the department's top seat in October, eight months after former Chief of Police Michel Moore retired. The council's vote was the final step in approving his appointment to the position, making him the 59th leader of the Los Angeles Police Department, the third-largest law enforcement agency in the nation.

"Chief McDonnell has pledged to serve all Angelenos," Bass said in a statement. "He is a leader, an innovator and a change-maker, and I am looking forward to working with him to grow and strengthen LAPD, deepen relationships with communities across the city and make sure that Los Angeles is vigilant and prepared for anything that comes our way."

Interim Police Chief Dominic Choi, who has been leading the department since March, is expected to step down and become one of three assistant chiefs under the new head.

McDonnell will be taking over a department that will deal with major security issues in the coming years as the region hosts the Olympics, a Super Bowl and the World Cup.

After serving with the LAPD for 29 years and holding several ranks before becoming assistant chief of police, McDonnell served in key leadership roles with other Southern California Agencies.

From 2010 to 2014, McDonnell served as chief of the Long Beach Police Department and then he served one term as Los Angeles County Sheriff from 2014 to 2018, he was the first outsider to take over the department in more than a century.   

In October, the City Council's Public Safety Committee voted 4-1 to advance McDonnell's nomination. Sitting member Hugo Soto-Martinez opposed his nomination citing concerns some residents have made over McDonnell's past policies on immigration.

During his tenure as LA County Sheriff, McDonnell allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into county jails. In 2017, he also opposed state Senate Bill 54, which established California as a sanctuary state, limiting law enforcement agencies' cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

At a press conference after he was sworn in as chief on Friday, McDonnell addressed concerns surrounding President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promise of mass deportations: "We don't do immigration enforcement."

"Any talk of mass roundups or the police department being involved in that thing — we don't do that kind of thing," he said. "We would alienate much of our population, much of our community with anything like that. It would make no sense for us to do that."

McDonnell said the department will focus on providing services to LA. 

"We're here to keep everybody safe — in all communities throughout our city," he said. "The way we do that is by nurturing trust, building on the relationships we have and making them better. We're trying to ensure that people understand the LAPD there is no additional risk as far as your immigration status."

Other issues the council committee questioned McDonnell on included, police recruitment, boosting department morale, unarmed response initiatives, improving police-community relations and how to limit liability claims stemming from officer misconduct, among other things.

"I know my role very clearly as chief of police," McDonnell had said. "I work for the police commission, for the mayor, with the council and we work as partners in public safety."