Prospects for Police Reform: Views from an LAPD Chief

Prospects for Police Reform: Views from an LAPD Chief

5pm PDT

Part of the series "Justice We Shall Pursue"

Controversies about police reform, especially the use of deadly violence, the roles assigned law enforcement, and demands to defund the police, have been at the center of national debates since the killing of George Floyd in May.

To discuss these issues, AJU President Jeffrey Herbst will be in discussion with Deputy Chief Jorge Rodriguez. A thirty year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Rodriguez oversees all police operations in the seven geographic areas of the San Fernando Valley. We will also examine how police/community relations may evolve, morale amongst the rank and file, and prospects for crime fighting.

Deputy Chief Jorge R. Rodriguez has been serving the citizens of Los Angeles for over three decades. Appointed to the Los Angeles Police Department in November 1987, shortly after serving his military commitment in the United States Marine Corps, he has successfully promoted through the ranks while working a variety of assignments. His assignments included patrol, gangs, footbeats, special problems unit, detectives, and narcotics.

Over the years, he has not only worked a variety of patrol divisions such as Rampart, North Hollywood, Northeast, and Southeast, but also Metropolitan Division where he served as an element member prior to promoting to the rank of Sergeant. Rounding out his experiences as a Sergeant, he worked in administrative assignments at Audit Division, the Rampart Corruption Task Force, Internal Affairs and D.A.R.E Division. In 2001, he returned to Metropolitan Division where he was assigned to the administrative platoon, both crime suppression platoons, and eventually as the supervisor overseeing the security details for Mayors Hahn and Villaraigosa.

In July of 2019, He promoted to his current rank and was returned to Operations-Valley Bureau, as the Commanding Officer, where he oversees all policing activities within the seven community police stations that serve the residents of the San Fernando Valley.

Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1964, Deputy Chief Rodriguez migrated to the United States with his parents at the age of seven and settled in Lennox, California. He was educated in the public-school system and after graduating class Salutatorian from Lennox High School in 1982. He has earned a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from Woodbury University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. He has also graduated from the Senior Management Institute for Police, the Delinquency Control Institute at the University of Southern California, the West Point Leadership Program and the Sherman Block Leadership Institute. He has been the recipient of numerous Department Commendations and Awards, to include two Meritorious Unit Citations.

Dr. Jeffrey Herbst is the fourth president of American Jewish University. Prior to joining AJU, Dr. Herbst was president and CEO of the Newseum and the Newseum Institute in Washington, DC. From 2010 to 2015, he was president of Colgate University, where among other accomplishments he is credited with helping the university complete its nearly half billion-dollar fundraising campaign, leading the development and initial implementation of a university-wide strategic plan, and increasing the diversity and academic caliber of its educational programming.

Additionally, Dr. Herbst was a Senior Fellow at the Brenthurst Foundation, was a two-time Fulbright Scholar, and is a former trustee of Freedom House. He has also served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and as professor of political science at Miami University in Ohio, and taught at Princeton University for almost two decades.

Dr. Herbst earned his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Princeton University, and a master’s degree and doctorate in political science from Yale University. He is the author of the award-winning “States and Power in Africa” and, with several co-authors, the just-published “Making Africa Work.” In addition to many books and articles, he has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many other digital and print publications around the world.