WHAT:
Swearing-In Ceremony for Chief Jim McDonnell
WHEN:
Thursday, November 14, 2024
8:00 a.m.
WHERE:
LAPD Academy in Elysian Park
1880 Academy Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Media Pool Camera Info – Spectrum 1 will be the pool camera for the ceremony. Following the ceremony, there will be an opportunity for media availability with Chief McDonnell.
Media Check-in: Media is asked to check-in with Media Relations personnel in front of the Los Angeles Police Federal Credit Union office. They will be escorted to the media area for the ceremony.
Media Parking: Limited availability on Malvina Ave, from Academy Rd.
WHO:
City of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
Los Angeles Police Department, Chief of Police Jim McDonnell
City and Community Dignitaries
BIO:
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.
CONTACT:
For questions related to this event, please contact Media Relations Division at (213) 486-5910.