When Jacqueline Seabrooks took over as Inglewood's police chief last year, city leaders and residents voiced high hopes that the veteran law enforcement outsider could restore trust in an institution crucial to a town struggling with waves of scandal and years of social change.
But this week the department and City Hall are once again under intense criticism from residents and civil rights activists after a fatal shooting Monday involving an officer already under investigation in the killing of a man two months ago.
Whether Officer Brian Ragan, one of two patrolmen under scrutiny for the May shooting of an unarmed man, acted properly in the latest confrontation remains to be seen.
But the incident, on the heels of other recent shootings, has given new energy to critics who question the city's leadership and whether Seabrooks is up to delivering needed reforms.
On Tuesday, many wanted to know why Ragan was returned to the streets so quickly, when an investigation of his actions and a $25-million lawsuit are still pending. More than 200 people showed up at the City Council meeting to vent their anger.
Some demanded Seabrooks' resignation. Others called for creation of a new, independent commission to investigate the Police Department, as well as deeper inquiries into Monday's fatal shooting of postal worker Kevin Wicks, 38, at his North Hillcrest Boulevard apartment.
"I want you, the community, to know that we are conducting a series of layered investigations," Seabrooks told the City Hall audience. But Seabrooks did not address concerns over why Ragan was returned to duty last month and asked that the public withhold judgment until all the facts are in on the latest shooting.
Police said Ragan and three other officers responded to a report of a family disturbance at the building. When officers knocked on Wicks' door, he answered it holding a handgun that he suddenly raised at the officers, according to police accounts. A gun registered to Wicks was recovered at the scene, officials said.
Neighbors and an investigator hired by the dead man's family questioned police accounts, saying Wicks was a quiet tenant who rarely had visitors and that officers hadn't clearly identified themselves.
At Tuesday evening's council meeting, community activists zeroed in on Seabrooks, 46, who was on vacation when the Wicks shooting occurred and had not appeared in public until she showed up at City Hall.
