A demanding data-cruncher at the forefront of efforts to reduce fatal shootings
Moore, 57, was among the finalists for LAPD chief in 2009. The Police Commission ranked him highest of the three, but current Chief Charlie Beck got the job. Moore has made no secret about his desire to lead a police department and was recently a finalist for the top jobs in Dallas and San Diego.
As a boy growing up with six siblings, Moore moved constantly while his parents looked for work. He remembers a Christmas night in Flint, Mich., when officials came to repossess the family station wagon. In Arkansas, his stepfather suggested that he stop using his Basque last name, Sanchotena, because of the racial prejudice there. He has been Michel Moore ever since, with “Michel” pronounced like “Michael.”
Moore, who is listed as Hispanic on department rosters, said he identifies as the son of an immigrant and views policing through that lens. Otherwise, he said, he is “one of billions.”
As a young police officer, Moore pulled the trigger in two fatal shootings. At that point, he said, he was happy to join the department’s DARE program and teach kids about the dangers of drugs. Later, as a sergeant, Moore got his first taste of the wonky data crunching he would become known for, creating the department’s first automated crime-mapping system.
After stints in internal affairs, Wilshire Division and vice, he was tapped to lead Rampart Division in 1998, the day after Rafael Perez was arrested in a corruption scandal that came to define the department. Officers in Rampart thought Perez was wrongly accused, Moore said. As a newly minted captain, he had to persuade them to abandon the “Rampart way” and start doing things the LAPD way.
Under Chief William Bratton, Moore was deputy chief of West Bureau and then Valley Bureau. In 2010, Beck promoted him to assistant chief — a rung below chief. He rotated through special operations, which includes detectives, counterterrorism and SWAT; administrative services, including the behind-thescenes realms of budget, personnel and training; and his current position, patrol operations.
Moore is by all accounts a demanding boss who expects his subordinates to be as versed in every detail as he is. Whether you view Moore as a driven leader or a micromanager depends on whether you are ready to rise to his level, said Capt. Jay Roberts, who was Moore’s adjutant.
“He taught me about juggling 1,600 balls at the same time,” Roberts said. “I was kept on my toes for three years — he held me accountable.”
At the LAPD’s weekly CompStat meetings, Moore asks detailed questions of station captains but does not humiliate them. He emails the topics he will cover — whether robberies, burglaries or auto thefts — to the captains in advance. He said he wants to work with them to find solutions to seemingly impossible problems.
“As a former captain, I have an appreciation for the pressures and challenges they’re under,” Moore said. “I’ve seen other people putting on CompStat … and embarrassing the hell out of the captains.”
Moore has been at the forefront of the LAPD’s efforts to reduce fatal shootings by encouraging officers to use Tasers and beanbag shotguns. He recently proposed a system to quantify positive community interactions such as public meetings and roll calls held on city streets.
“It’s not just enforcement — crime suppression, getting guns off the street,” Moore said. “It’s engagement — being in church pews, working foot beats.”
Moore, who lives in Santa Clarita, said he will move to L.A. if he becomes chief.
”To represent a city of 4 million, I think it speaks to being fully vested in the outcomes of what happens in the city,” he said.
The Political Action Committee of the Mexican American Bar Assn. has endorsed Moore as the most qualified candidate for police chief.
“The City of Los Angeles is made up of many diverse communities and Assistant Chief Moore has the knowledge, background, and expertise that is superior to any other candidate in working with all minority groups,” Felipe Plascencia, the group’s president, wrote in a letter to Garcetti.
A similarly named but unrelated group, the Mexican American Bar Assn., is supporting Arcos.