Charlie Beck

Chief Charlie Beck has been a Police Officer for the past fifty years, starting with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) as a Reserve Police Officer in 1974 and continuing in that same role to this day.  He was born into law enforcement as the son of an LAPD Assistant Chief and has continued that tradition with with his wife, retired Los Angeles Sheriffs Deputy Cindy Beck, and their three adult children who are all police officers.

During the past five decades he has held every rank in the LAPD including being its Chief for the nine years between 2009 and 2018.  During his entire tenure as Chief in this city of four million people homicides never reached 300 per year and many years were below 250. These are numbers not seen since 1953, the year he was born.

He attribute’s this success to effective policing that builds community trust. This is exemplified by his partnership with and reliance on Community Violence Intervention organizations such as the innovative Community Safety Partnership that completely eliminated homicides in LA’s most violent and notorious housing development for two years following it’s inception.

Chief Beck retired from full time policing in 2018 on his 65th birthday.  He came back as the Interim Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department after the unexpected retirement of his predecessor and led that agency through some very tough times during the pandemic.

He is currently a senior advisor for the University of Chicago’s Police Leadership Academy and Community Violence Intervention Academy.