The Los Angeles Police Commission has completed two days of interviews with the 13 candidates vying to be the next LAPD chief. Officials hope to select three finalists next week, reports the city’s Times. All but but two of the candidates are LAPD executives, and the commission made no effort to conceal the identities of the in-house candidates from the assembled media. But it did sneak the two outside candidates into and out of the interview room through a back hallway. When a Times reporter attempted to pursue one of the candidates, an LAPD officer blocked the hall.
Commission President John Mack defended the the decision to keep the identities of the two outside applicants concealed. He said they were sitting police chiefs elsewhere and did not want it known that they were seeking the LAPD post. Mack said he believed that it was more important to protect the candidates' identities than to inform the public about them.