John Thomas

John Thomas, a native of South-Central Los Angeles, has spent four decades in law enforcement including 21 years as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) where he retired at the rank of Lieutenant in 2005 and took a position as Deputy Chief of Police for the University of the District of Columbia Department of Public Safety & Emergency Management in Washington, D.C. In 2006, Thomas returned to Southern California where he spent 15 years in command-level positions with the University of Southern California Department of Public Safety, one of the nation's largest campus departments with over 300 officers and an annual budget of $52 million. In 2013 he was appointed to the department’s Executive Director/Chief position before retiring in January 2022 to accept a Senior Advisor position with the University. He served in that position until December 2022. 

In December 2022 he accepted a position as the Interim Chief of Police for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Police Department. He served as the Interim Chief of Police until after a national search, at which time he was selected and appointed Chief of Police in January 2024.   

As a member of the LAPD, Chief Thomas worked patrol assignments primarily in South Los Angeles in Wilshire, 77th Street, Southwest, Newton Street and Pacific Divisions. He was also assigned to the Department's Gang Enforcement Detail in South Los Angeles and worked undercover narcotic enforcement as a member of the Department's Focused Attack Linking Community Organizations and Neighborhoods (FALCON) Unit. While assigned to FALCON he was awarded the City of Los Angeles’ City Angel Award for outstanding community enhancement and the Department's Meritorious Unit Citation. Perhaps most notably, he served as Adjutant to four LAPD Chiefs of Police including two interim chiefs, as well as Chief Bernard Parks and Chief Bill Bratton. He is featured in Bill Bratton’s Best-selling book, “The Profession-A Memoir of Community, Race, and The Arc of Policing in America” published in 2021.  

Thomas has also assisted in the executive search and selection processes for both municipal and campus police chief and command level positions.  

Up until his appointment as the Interim Chief of Police for UCLA, he continued to serve the people of Los Angeles as an LAPD Reserve Officer. His last assignment was to the newly formed Office of Constitutional Policing & Policy’s, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) group.  

Thomas has served on the Board of Directors for The Challenger’s Boys & Girls Club in South LA and has been on the Board of Directors for Los Angeles Police Museum since 1999. He has been published and has researched and written extensively on the Early Black History of LAPD and Los Angeles. Thomas is on the Board of Directors for the Police Officers’ Association of Los Angeles County (POALAC) and serves on the Board of Advisors for the USC Price School’s Safe Communities Institute. Thomas is on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) and is a member of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), Pac 12 Campus Chiefs’ Association, Campus Safety Magazine Advisory Board, California College & University Police Chiefs Association, and the FBI National Academy Associates. 

Thomas attended UCLA and Mount St. Mary’s University, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts and earned a Master’s Degree in Executive Leadership from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.