LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass today commended the Los Angeles City Council Public Safety Committee following their vote to advance the nomination of Jim McDonnell to serve as the 59th Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. During today’s Public Safety Committee meeting, the five member committee discussed McDonnell’s qualifications, experience and priorities for the City of Los Angeles and keeping residents safe. The 15-member City Council will now consider his appointment and vote for final approval.
“I want to thank Chairwoman Monica Rodriguez for her leadership today as well as the other members of the Council Public Safety Committee for their careful consideration of Chief McDonnell,” said Mayor Bass. “Chief McDonnell has pledged to serve all Angelenos. 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.”
“I respect Jim McDonnell’s tenure of service and leadership as a law enforcement professional. After a comprehensive discussion raising the concerns of our diverse communities, his thoughtful and in depth responses earned the Public Safety Committee’s recommendation to advance for City Council consideration,” said Chair of the Public Safety Committee, Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez. “I am eager to work with the new Chief to address the safety concerns of everyday Angelenos, and make Los Angeles a place where all people feel safe in their neighborhoods, local parks and business corridors.”
On October 4, 2024, Mayor Bass announced McDonnell as her selection to serve as the LAPD Chief of Police.
Chief McDonnell said that his goals are to:
- Enhance public safety;
- Grow LAPD back to full strength through recruitment and retention;
- Strengthen public trust;
- Further develop community relationships;
- Ensure respectful and constitutional policing practices; and
- Prepare LAPD and our partners for the challenges ahead.
About Chief Jim McDonnell
Chief Jim McDonnell is a proven leader, innovator and change maker in law enforcement. He has served for more than forty years in the public safety profession and is the first person to serve in senior executive leadership positions in the three largest policing agencies in Los Angeles County: the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD). During his tenure, all three agencies saw a reduction in crime and improved police-community relations.
Beginning his career with the LAPD, McDonnell served there for twenty-nine years and held every rank up to First Assistant Chief of Police. He worked a wide variety of assignments, including homicide, gangs, organized crime, vice, and patrol operations. Early in his tenure at the LAPD, McDonnell played an integral role in developing the framework for community policing that would transform the LAPD into a thought leader in community policing strategies. McDonnell continued to build upon this framework throughout his career. He retired from the LAPD in 2010 to become the Chief of the Long Beach Police Department, where he served for almost five years.
In 2014, McDonnell was elected as the 32nd Sheriff of Los Angeles County to lead the largest sheriff’s department in the United States with more than 18,000 employees. McDonnell took over an agency that had been shaken by scandal and, in his four-year term, worked to restore public trust, institutionalize systems of accountability, and work collaboratively and effectively with federal, state and local agencies to combat human trafficking and terrorism, among other regional challenges.
McDonnell is a respected voice on local, state, and national criminal justice issues. He has served as Vice President of the Major County Sheriffs of America; President of the California Peace Officers’ Association; President of the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Association; a board member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police; a board member of the Peace Officers’ Association of Los Angeles County; a member of the Major Cities Chiefs Association; and as a member of the California Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards & Training (POST).
After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, McDonnell obtained a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He is also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Executive Institute and has completed executive education programs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
