Mayor Lee picks William Scott, LAPD veteran, as SF police chief

Mayor Ed Lee plans to announce Tuesday that he is hiring a veteran Los Angeles deputy police chief to lead the San Francisco force as it implements broad changes in the wake of several shootings of African Americans and Latinos, according to City Hall sources. The selection of Scott is certain to surprise friends and critics of Lee alike, with the mayor looking outside the city rather than promoting acting Police Chief Toney Chaplin — which many city leaders expected, and the officers’ union urged — or a member of his command staff. [...] as much as Scott’s longtime administrative experience figured into the decision — he did assignments in patrol, the detectives bureau, internal affairs and gang operations — we’re told he was coveted as much for his work in the department’s professional standards bureau dealing with police reform. “He has been part of a department that during the last 10 years has undergone its own transformation, implementing a variety of reforms under a consent decree with the Justice Department,” said one source familiar with the selection process. Since the search began seven months ago, the perceived front-runner was Chaplin, who is also African American. Chaplin was elevated in May following the forced resignation of Greg Suhr, just hours after the fatal police shooting of an unarmed African American woman in a stolen car renewed questions about whether the Police Department had lost the confidence of minority communities in the city. The union has been at loggerheads with the mayor’s office, the Police Commission and community activists over the department’s use-of-force policies in the wake of a string of deadly officer-involved shootings over the past couple of years. On Wednesday night, the Police Commission is scheduled to take up — and possibly vote on — a new set of use-of-force policies sharply opposed by the police union. Officers would be prohibited from shooting at moving vehicles — a mandate that has been adopted in many places but, according to the police union, would leave officers with no option if a homicidal motorist started running people down.