Sheriff-elect Robert Luna selects transition team

Newly elected as the next sheriff of Los Angeles County, Robert Luna Friday announced the leaders he has appointed to his transition team.

Luna’s term as sheriff will begin Dec. 5, following voters’ decision to oust incumbent Sheriff Alex Villanueva after a single term. Before the former chief of police in Long Beach takes on his new role, Luna said his transition team in Los Angeles will assist in preparing the department for the leadership change.

The team will be co-chaired by Richard Conant, Eileen Decker and Eric Parra, it was announced at a news conference Friday afternoon in East Los Angeles.

Conant was most recently deputy chief of the Long Beach Police Department while Luna was chief. He retired in 2019, after serving 29 years in the department, where he worked in patrol, gang enforcement, homicide, S.W.A.T., directed enforcement, internal affairs, and as chief of staff to the chief of police.

Conant was also part of LBPD board that cleared Officer Jeffrey Meyer of wrongdoing in the killing of unarmed teen Hector Morejon. Morejon’s death is among the cases D.A. Gascon reopened when he was elected.

Decker is vice president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, for which she previously served as president. She is also a lecturer in law at USC Gould School of Law, and previously served as the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California and as Los Angeles deputy mayor for public safety and homeland security.

Parra is chief of the Huntington Beach Police Department. Previously, he served as chief of police in Alhambra. He served in the sheriff’s department for 31 years, and his last assignment was to manage six patrol stations, 12 contract cities and 31 unincorporated areas.

Conant was part of LBPD board that cleared Officer Jeffrey Meyer of wrongdoing in the killing of unarmed teen Hector Morejon. Morejon’s death is among the cases D.A. Gascon reopened when he was elected.

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