Incoming LAPD chief could make more than the US president

Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times on Nov 1, 2024

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LOS ANGELES — The incoming Los Angeles Police Department chief stands to get paid more than L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, the leaders of the police departments in New York and Chicago — the nation’s two largest — and even the president of the United States.

The Board of Police Commissioners, the LAPD’s civilian oversight body, has proposed paying Jim McDonnell an annual salary of $507,509 — significantly more than the chief he replaced, Michel Moore. The salary proposal, put forward Thursday, is expected to be discussed at next week’s Commission meeting and still requires City Council approval.

The compensation is on the high end of the pay range advertised months ago for the position by Bob Murray and Associates, the Northern California firm that led the nationwide chief search. The half-million-dollar figure represents McDonnell’s proposed base salary and doesn’t include benefits or potential bonuses; nor does it encompass any pension payments that he is collecting from his previous law enforcement stops.

McDonnell didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment through a department spokesperson.

The salary is sure to draw resistance, amid broader conversations around police spending.

Last year, the council approved a four-year package of raises and bonuses for rank-and-file police officers over the objections of critics who said the deal is too expensive and would take away from paying for basic services.

McDonnell was appointed to the chief’s job last month, beating out two other finalists for the job: LAPD deputy chief Emada Tingirides and Robert “Bobby” Arcos, a former assistant chief who works for the L.A County District Attorney’s office.

McDonnell appeared before the council’s public safety committee on Tuesday to answer questions about his views on immigration, traffic enforcement and unarmed alternatives to police responses. After a public comment period dominated by speakers opposing his appointment, the committee voted 4-1 to forward his name for consideration by the full council on Nov. 8. If confirmed, McDonnell would be sworn in on Nov. 14.

He has for the last several years worked at USC, where he ran the school’s Safe Communities Institute. Records released by the city show that McDonnell has also disclosed operating a consulting company, which draws in between $10,0001 and $100,000 a year.

His predecessor’s salary also came under scrutiny. When Moore was first hired, his base salary from the Police Department was $350,000. But in total he collected nearly $600,000 a year after enrolling in a controversial retirement plan known as the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or DROP, which pays veteran cops and firefighters essentially double for the last five years of their careers. Moore briefly retired before taking over as chief, earning a a lump sum retirement payment of $1.27 million from the city.

Historically, some LAPD chiefs have outearned their civilian bosses, the mayor. Even with the extra zeros in his banking account, McDonnell still won’t be the highest-paid executive in the city.

Department of Water and Power general manager Janisse Quiñones, appointed to the role this spring, will earn $750,000 a year — nearly twice as much as her predecessor, Marty Adams.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a policing think tank based in Washington, said the LAPD chief’s job “traditionally is one of the highest if not highest salaries in the country.”

Roughly three-fourths of big-city police departments have seen a leadership change in recent years, which comes as police budgets have held steady or increased in cities across the country, Wexler said.

“Police officer salaries have gone up across the country, driven by the significant increase in retirements and resignations,” Wexler said. “So the whole compensation of policing has shot up exponentially, so I would say that chief salaries have gone up at the same level.”

A 2021 PERF study found that about 7% of the 335 chiefs polled reported an annual salary of more than $250,000.

The last two permanent commissioners of the New York Police Department had a salary of about $243,000, according to news accounts. Garry McArthur, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, makes roughly $260,000 a year, city records show.

By comparison, whoever wins the presidential election, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, will be paid $400,000 yearly to serve as U.S. commander in chief.