The Los Angeles Police Department’s new Chief, Michel Moore, made campus history Wednesday night when he spoke at California State University, Northridge — a CSUN first, and his first forum on a college campus since being named LA’s chief law enforcement officer this past summer. Moore, who took the helm of the nation’s third-largest municipal police force, visited with students and spoke as part of a presentation to students and faculty in CSUN’s new Department of Criminology and Justice Studies (CJS).
Hundreds of students — in their evening classes, with professors — packed the Plaza del Sol Performance Hall at the CSUN University Student Union, along with top brass from the LAPD, including Kris Pitcher, the department’s bureau chief for the San Fernando Valley. CSUN Government and Community Relations; Assistant Interim Provost Matt Cahn; Dean Yan Searcy of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS); and William Watkins, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, were among those who represented CSUN — along with numerous SBS faculty, alumni and community members.
“We’re trying to build trust externally [with the community],” said Moore, who succeeded former Chief Charlie Beck as the LAPD’s 57th chief. Moore joined the department as a 21-year-old in 1981. “We’re in a pretty good spot, but we can get better. Partly, it’s listening. Partly, it’s giving people a voice — and feeling that they have a say. As a chief, I intend to be an honest and transparent person.
“There are problems in this city that we cannot solve, and there are people in this city who want the police department to solve them,” he said. “I’m going to be a chief who says, ‘this is a shared responsibility. All of us have a responsibility for our public safety. LAPD will always have a significant role and partnership in that, but you can’t lay that on my desk. You can’t expect our men and women to go out and solve every problem that we’ve got identified.’”
Read the rest of the story at CSUN Today!