Former LBPD Chief McDonnell Heading USC’s Safe Communities Institute

Jon LeSage

To build a better and safer community, we need to have a good working relationship with law enforcement. The Long Beach Police Department asks us to pick up the phone and dial 911 when somebody’s safety is at risk and a crime is being committed – or if the caller is concerned that one of these is about to take place.

Jim McDonnell, a former chief at the LBPD and sheriff of Los Angeles County, is now director of the Safe Communities Institute (SCI) at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. McDonnell answered a number of questions during a phone interview on the pressing issues impacting public safety – including how those relationships can open up for rapid response and better community relations with law enforcement agencies.

McDonnell has gained a good deal of valuable experience on these issues – having served for 29 years at the Los Angeles Police Department, where he held every rank up to first assistant chief of police. He played a leading role in bringing community policing strategies to the department before retiring in 2010. He then became chief of the LBPD for nearly five years, before being elected 32nd sheriff of LA County in 2014, where he oversaw the country’s largest sheriff’s department and its jail system.

During that four-year term at LA County, McDonnell had to lead the team through a difficult time. The agency had just gone through a scandal and its jail system had come under a federal consent decree for inadequate mental health care and excessive force in violation of inmates’ civil rights. His administration was able to bring back order and public trust for the department and jail system by bringing back effective systems of accountability based on restoring professionalism and respect in that workplace. It also required working closely with federal, state and local agencies to address human trafficking and other law enforcement issues.

Terrorism was Main Focus 15 Years Ago

McDonnell said that terrorism and homeland security was the pressing issue 15 years ago in the post-September 11, 2001 environment and during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s changed lately with a surge in homelessness and mentally ill people out on the streets who may be homeless, too. That’s a rising tide for law enforcement to deal with in Long Beach and across the country, McDonnell said.

In 1983, the LAPD released a mental health evaluation process that was adopted by other law enforcement agencies around the country, he said. Officers need to be trained in responding to these calls and working with the public. They’re usually the first responders for public safety issues involving mentally ill people.

“The police can only address the symptoms,” McDonnell said. “It’s not really the solution – there is much to it.”

The recurring scenario is that police officers are sent out to deal with these disturbances and safety issues in public places and neighborhoods. They do need support from professionals trained in that area, he said.

For commanding officers at LBPD and other agencies, it’s become part of sending out a co-response team that can include officers sent out to restore order and safety, and social workers, paramedics and specialists trained and experienced in working with mentally ill people.

Safety has been slowly returning since the turbulence that erupted in 2020 with the shutdowns in March from the surge of COVID-19 and following the public outcry over the death of George Floyd by a police officer in May. Rioting and police confrontation incidents around the country were also triggered by both far-right and far-left extremist groups, according to law enforcement agencies and federal officials.

The rate of homicides and violent incidents surged that year and 2021, with a decrease in murders of -5.1% in large cities in the US last year according to the AH Datalytics firm. The LBPD reported a -7.7% decline in murders in the city during 2022 compared to the previous year.

Frank Serpico Honored at USC

In October, the Safe Communities Institute’s Police Misconduct Registry (PMR) – the first national database documenting officers fired for misconduct – honored social justice activist and former New York Police Department detective Frank Serpico with the first-annual PMR Humanitarian Award.

Most people became aware of the former NYPD officer speaking out and testifying against police payoffs and system corruption as depicted in the 1973 film “Serpico,” with Al Pacino playing the undercover detective.

McDonnell said that cleaning house on corruption in police departments goes back more than 50 years. While it can still come up, the bigger challenge now is integrating the community policing model.

In his new role at USC, he’s been involved with a few of the critical issues that law enforcement leaders have to face.

McDonnell led an ABC7 press conference with L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna and other officials recently on the Monterey Park active shooter incident. Local residents were shocked by the shootings at the well-known dance studio on Lunar New Year.

If you’re concerned about the behavior of someone you know, who may have access to weapons and could take lives, let someone know, McDonnell said. Local police officers can be guided by that caller on what’s going on and the best way to respond.

If you see someone walk into one of these public places who looks ready to start an assault – such as a theater or a restaurant – you’ve got to find the safest place and go there. Where can I hide, would be the question you can ask to immediately bring yourself and loved ones to safety.

“We can’t be complacent, no matter where we are,” he said.

Aftermath of the Tyre Nichols Tragedy

The death of black Memphis resident Tyre Nichols last month speaks to another ongoing law enforcement challenge. When asked about the arrest and beating by five black police officers leading to Nichols’ death three days later, McDonnell said it was clearly the wrong way for law enforcement professionals to act.

Recruitment, training and management of law enforcement officers will have to continue changing, to avoid another tragedy like Memphis and to do the essential job that law enforcement promises to bring to the community. But getting recruitment and retention of good police officers has become much more difficult following these awful incidents, he said.

Getting people living and working in these communities to call the police and report gun shots, or other dangerous situations, can be a steep wall to climb for local governments and their law enforcement agencies. Like the Nichols incident, they may have had or seen very bad encounters between the police and the black community.

The caller could be afraid of retaliation from gang members or others involved in the incident, so they may not make that call. They may have hoped, or assumed, that someone else had already called it in, he said.

The movement to disband police departments and replace them with public safety officers not carrying weapons may not be enough, he said. Once again, this could involve a mentally ill person who’s gone into a violent, reactive emotional state, McDonnell said. Police officers are sent in to restore order, and fortunately, that is usually the outcome before it reaches a violent confrontation.

“Expectations are high,” he said. “The public deserves our best response. It’s almost a miracle we’re as successful as we are – and we do get very good results.”

Another big challenge that law enforcement officers and state officials face in California has been watching the new legal cannabis industry face uphill battles. The SCI director was a panelist on a USC workshop on Feb. 2 exploring the tough issues that industry and local and state government face.

The illegal cannabis trade has been part of the problem in stabilizing the industry in the state, McDonnell said. The state would like to see the industry come under control, with business owners complying with the licensing and setting up their storefronts, while also selling safe and legally approved product.

But the demand in the state – and other states without legal marijuana – is strong, motivating illegal dealers to compete in the market. That can meet up with a host of problems, including facing violent competitors and tapping into a tainted cannabis supply.

“It could be more potent that the legal cannabis,” McDonnell said. “It could be mixed with fentanyl, making it dangerous.”

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin. It has become one of the top law enforcement crises out there, he said.

McDonnell is working on raising the necessary funding for the SCI, which would include bringing in researchers to conduct studies on some of the most topical issues of the day.

Everybody wants to live in a safe and stable community. McDonnell hopes for this USC institute to be well prepared for contributing to the solutions.

 

Jon LeSage is a resident of Long Beach and a veteran business media reporter and editor. You can reach him at jtlesage1@yahoo.com.

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Comments

Jim McDonnell covered up the Douglas Zerby murder while Long Beach Police Chief. He repeatedly claimed Zerby was killed because he was pointing a hose nozzle at police officers he didn't even know were there. In the civil trial, officers testified: 1. They never warned Zerby and it was likely Zerby didn't know Officers were watching him and pointing guns at him. 2. Zerby was sitting on top of the hose nozzle when murdered by police. 3. Long Beach police modified the hose nozzle to more resemble a gun before providing pictures of the hose nozzle to the press. 4. A ringing house phone (??) startled police officers causing them to all open fire on Zerby, striking him 14 times. 5. The forensic report proved Zerby did NOT have the hose nozzle in his hand when murdered. 6. Fellow officers testified that the officers who murdered Zerby did not need to shoot Zerby and had no reason to not give him an opportunity to drop the nozzle before using deadly force. 7. Furthermore, because Zerby had committed no crime, it was not reasonable for the officers to NOT have announced their presence.

Jim McDonnell repeatedly held press conferences claiming the shooting was in self defense even though the department knew it to be untrue and that it had fabricated evidence to support their story. Why would ANYONE want Jim McDonnell involved in anything involving public safety?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Douglas_Zerby

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