Thirty-one people have applied to be the next Los Angeles police Chief, and surprisingly, LAPD Assistant Chief Beatrice Girmala, who had been considered a top contender, is not one of them, it was reported Tuesday.
The 31 applications were received by Friday, which was the end of a three-week application window, said Steve Soboroff, president of the Police Commission, the civilian panel that oversees the department, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Few of the candidates’ names have emerged, and the full list won’t be released by the city’s Personnel Department, but there is at least one surprising omission: Girmala said Monday she did not apply, declining to say why, The Times reported.
Soboroff indicated his satisfaction with the group, saying it included “highly, highly qualified candidates.”
The search for Chief Charlie Beck’s replacement began in January, when he announced that he would retire from the Los Angeles Police Department this summer. Beck and others have expressed their desire to forgo the need for an interim chief, giving city officials roughly five months to hire his successor.
Mayor Eric Garcetti will make the final selection from a list of applicants narrowed down by his appointees on the Police Commission. The City Council must then confirm the mayor’s choice.
Police commissioners have said they hope to finish evaluating the candidates and offer Garcetti their top three suggestions in early June, a few weeks before Beck’s last day, June 27.
The Police Commission recently brought in a national policing nonprofit, the Police Executive Research Forum, to assist with the process of finding the next chief, The Times reported.
The names of a few current and former high-ranking LAPD officials have circulated as potential contenders. According to The Times, it includes Michel Moore, an assistant chief who was one of three finalists for the job in 2009; Sandy Jo MacArthur, a former LAPD assistant chief who retired in 2015 but is still a reserve officer; and Robert Arcos, a deputy chief who heads the LAPD’s Central Bureau.
Moore, MacArthur and Arcos all confirmed Monday that they submitted applications, as did Deputy Chief Phil Tingirides, who oversees the department’s South Bureau, The Times reported.