The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The union representing the city’s police officers said it will not endorse any of the three finalists for police chief.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League made the announcement Thursday, a day after Mayor James Hahn said the union should not be involved in voicing its support for one candidate. The union represents more than 8,000 officers.
The union interviewed two of the finalists, Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez and William Bratton, former head of the New York Police Department. However, they have not yet heard from the third candidate, John Timoney, former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Hahn has interviewed all three men and will decide in the next couple of weeks who should be the city’s new police chief.
Some rank-and-file officers and elected officials, including Councilman Nick Pacheco, have said Lopez, a former Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief and 27-year veteran of the department, is the appropriate choice.
Meanwhile, an organization representing Hispanic rank-and-file officers said Thursday that it will support Lopez, according to the group’s president.
The Latin American Law Enforcement Association threw its support behind LAPD Cmdr. George Gascon, who did not make the final cut.
“Since he’s out of the picture, out of those three, we determined the best one would be Lopez,” said Detective Art Placencia, the group’s president. “The other two guys don’t know nothing about Los Angeles. They don’t know nothing about the department, nothing about the community.”