Steve Soboroff is a man of many hats, and the LA civic and business leader recently took on one more: president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, where he has high hopes of bringing the police department to a new level of excellence.
Within minutes of his opening speech at his first Commission meeting on Sept. 9, Soboroff called for the support and implementation of in-car and on-body cameras to further protect both officers and citizens alike.
“It will save tens of millions of dollars in court cases, thousands of man hours in both the LAPD and City Attorney’s offices, and serve to further cut crime,” Soboroff said.
More familiarly in Malibu, he has come to prominence as a developer spearheading the proposal for a Whole Foods Market to be built in the Civic Center. He also once owned the Malibu Village Shopping Center.
According to the Los Angeles City Charter, the Board of Commissioners is the head of the police department and sets overall policy, while the Chief of Police manages the daily operations of the department and implements the the Board’s policies or policy direction and goals.
“It is our plan to succeed by aggressively acknowledging, promoting, and innovating the positive while also transparently, tirelessly, and appropriately dealing with the problems that arise,” Soboroff said at the Sept. 9 LAPD Commission meeting.
Soboroff also chairs the Board of Directors of the Weingart Foundation, a group that gives grants and other support to Southern California non-profit organizations. Previously he has worked with the California Science Center, the Los Angeles Dodgers, was President of the LA Recreation and Parks Commission, and served as Senior Advisor to LA Mayor Richard Riordan.