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Overcast Tangney appointed acting Long Beach police commissioner
LBPD Lt. tapped for vacant post as search for permanent replacement begins
After months of speculation and rumors over who would be the next top cop in Long Beach following former Police Commissioner Tom Sofield Sr.’s retirement, Lt. Michael Tangney, a 34-year member of the department, was named Acting Commissioner on Friday.
Tangney, who in the past has served as head of the department’s traffic division, among other posts, will assume the day-to-day operations until a permanent replacement is selected.
With the departure of Sofield Sr. on Nov. 29, after nearly a decade at the helm of the department, former City Manager Charles Theofan had assumed the title of commissioner until Jan. 1, when the recently elected Democratic City Council majority took control of City Hall.
According to the city's charter, the city manager, or a mayor, may serve as police commissioner. In a Dec. 1 memo to members of the Police Department and other city department heads, Theofan said that he had turned the department’s day-to-day operations over to Lt. Jack Radin.
At Tangney’s swearing in on Friday, the new City Manager, Jack Schnirman, said that he did not want to assume the duties of police commissioner, as the new administration begins its formal selection process. “I want a real expert as acting police commissioner,” Schnirman said of Tangney. “This appointment shall be in effect until such time as a thorough and thoughtful search and selection process can be completed for a permanent police commissioner.”
Schnirman said that he had evaluated a number of candidates’ resumes when he took office, mostly from inside the department and a few from outside of Long Beach.
“First, I decided that we would only consider internal candidates to be the acting police commissioner, as we really need someone to hit the ground running,” he said.
For months, Tangney was rumored to be the Democrats’ top pick for the commissioner’s job if they won the election. The Democratic candidates, however, said that a police commissioner would not be named until the City Council hired a city manager and that a number of candidates would be considered.
