Former county sheriff has been appointed to lead the Los Angeles police force

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former county sheriff has been named chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, taking charge of the nation’s third-largest police force. Mayor Karen Bass announced Friday the appointment of Jim McDonnell and said her choice was based on making Los Angeles safer. The news follows the surprise retirement of Chief Michel Moore, whose tenure was marked by greater scrutiny into excessive force and police killings of civilians in the nation’s second-largest city. A civilian board of Los Angeles police commissioners selected McDonnell out of three final candidates. He rose to second-in-command during his 29 years at the police department and also served as chief of the Long Beach Police Department.