Brian Buchner is the Assistant Inspector General overseeing the Use of Force Section for the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which provides independent civilian oversight of the Los Angeles Police Department’s most serious uses of force, including officer-involved shootings. During his tenure with the OIG, Brian has served in several leadership and investigative roles, including Assistant Inspector General overseeing the Audit Section. He has overseen nearly $1 billion in federal, state, and local funding and led implementation of the city’s major homelessness initiatives. He has also directed city-wide policing and homelessness policy and worked closely with the Mayor, Police Commission and its Inspector General, the LAPD, and the public on many important reforms.
Brian is an expert in police oversight and policy, having served for oversight agencies and advised local, state, national, and international government entities regarding police accountability. He has been invited to testify before numerous task forces and blue-ribbon commissions, including President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Brian has also helped to establish civilian oversight agencies across the U.S. and has published numerous articles and reports on police accountability, including an assessment of policing across the University of California system. He also co-led and co-authored the nation’s most comprehensive national survey of police oversight agencies.
Brian serves on the board of Ride On, a nonprofit organization that provides equine-assisted therapeutic services for children and adults with disabilities. He previously served as President of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE), the nation’s largest civilian oversight organization, as a Senior Fellow with the NYU School of Law’s Policing Project and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, as an advisor to the American Law Institute’s Policing Project, and as a commissioner on the Santa Monica Social Services Commission. Brian earned a BS in criminal justice from Bowling Green State University and an MA in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He also earned a certificate from the USC Safe Communities Institute’s Public Safety Leadership program.
Learn more about Professor Buchner in his Faculty Spotlight.
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