By Allan Lengel
With questions revived over use of deadly force in the department, the Los Angeles Police Commission has named former FBI agent Erroll Southers as its president, the Los Angeles Times report.
Southers worked for the FBI from 1984 to 1988 and was involved in foreign counterintelligence and terrorism and the SWAT team, according to his Linkedin page. He was also a police instructor. He eventually went on to teach at the University of Southern California on national and homeland security, and work as an associate senior vice president of safety and risk assurance for the university.
The commission job, which involves overseeing the police force, involves 25-50 hours of work per week, according to the commission website.
His appointment drew praise from colleagues, but some critics expressed concern because of his time with the Santa Monica Police Department and the FBI, and his later work as a counter-terrorism advisor, the LA Times writes, adding: “Southers was involved with a federal initiative known as Countering Violent Extremism, or CVE, which critics have said unfairly targeted Muslim communities.”
He takes over just as police have been in involved in four shootings in a two-week stretch.
