New captains are on their way to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Central and Rampart areas, which each cover portions of Downtown.
The changes are part of a command-staff shakeup prompted in part by retirements.
Captain James Rubert, who has served as commanding officer of Central Area for the past two years, is among the retirees. LAPD Chief William Bratton recently named Captain Andy Smith to replace Rubert, tapping a 17-year veteran who most recently served as commanding officer of LAPD’s Communications Division.
Smith is slated to become the fourth commanding officer for Central Area in the past four years.
Rubert spent 34 years with LAPD, serving in a variety of posts before taking command at Central Area.
Rubert is scheduled to retire at the end of this month.
Smith appears to be a rising star in LAPD’s ranks, with an impressive resume of police work combined with academic training.
Smith earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 1986 at the UC San Diego. He later took a Master of Arts degree in Public Administration in 1997 at the USC, graduating with honors. He is also a graduate of USC’s Delinquency Control Institute and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Academy.
Smith joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1988, and has worked a wide variety of patrol, specialized unit, and staff assignments in the Wilshire, Newton, 77th Street, Harbor, Hollywood and Pacific areas.
Smith is also active in many professional organizations, including the Police Officers Association of Los Angeles County, the National Tactical Officer’s Association (NTOA), the Los Angeles Police Historical Society, and the FBI National Academy Associates.
A former Central Area captain also received a recent promotion. Captain Charlie Beck has been named assistant to the director of the LAPD’s Office of Operations.
Beck shifted from Central to LAPD’s Rampart Area—which includes Pico-Union, Westlake, and portions of the Silverlake and Echo Park neighborhoods to the west of Downtown—two years ago.
Captain Debra McCarthy has been named to replace Beck in the Rampart Area, arriving from her most recent assignment as Captain of Special Operations Division, Professional Standards Bureau.
Bratton has shown a penchant for shuffling his command staff in his three years as chief. He said the latest changes were “critical to keeping the department moving in the right direction, and to keep a sense of urgency among staff officers who are encouraged to continue to find more creative ways to fight crime, reduce fear [and] disorder, and to continue rebuilding community trust.” Bratton said.
