James T. Butts Jr.

James T. Butts, Jr. (born August 1, 1953) is an American police officer and politician, the 12th and current Mayor of the City of Inglewood, California. Previously he served the City of Inglewood for 19 years where he received several promotions until he was sworn in as Deputy Chief of Police for the City of Inglewood. In September 1991 he was sworn in as Chief of Police for the City of Santa Monica, California serving from 1991 to 2006. In August of 2006, after a nationwide recruitment Butts was selected to be the first Deputy Executive Director of Homeland Security and Public Safety for the Los Angeles World Airports system.

Butts is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona where he received an MBA in June 1994. He was a California State University-Los Angeles (CSULA) graduate with a Bachelor's Degree before earning his MBA. He also holds a number of command and management certificates from the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). He is a graduate of the POST Command College and a past president of the Peace Officers Association of Los Angeles County. Butts was Inglewood's first black Motorcycle Traffic Enforcement Officer, 1st black Lieutenant, Captain and only black Deputy Chief in the history of the Department.

Butts would leave Inglewood in September of 1991 at the age of 38 to become the first person of color to command the Santa Monica, California Police Department as Chief of Police, and the youngest ever to do so. Until his arrival as Chief no person of color or female gender had advanced beyond the rank of sergeant. When he left, females and males of color were represented among the population of all supervisory, middle management and the highest command ranks of the SMPD. By 1997 the SMPD had been named by the ACLU as one of the five most integrated police departments in the State of California. After a 20 year absence, on February 1, 2011 James Butts would return to serve the citizens of the City of Inglewood as mayor.

Career

James Butts served in the City of Inglewood Police Department (IPD) from 1972 to 1991 starting as a Community Service Officer (CSO/Police Cadet) at the age of 19, he became a sworn Police Officer September 12, 1974. During his career in Inglewood, he worked in or commanded every operation in the IPD, including serving 12 years as an Officer, Team Leader and Commander of the SWAT team. During 1986 the then Captain Butts was a pioneer in using community-based policing concepts to suppress crime and disorder. He developed and commanded a task force in the summer of 1986 that obliterated street narcotics trafficking in the City resulting in nearly 900 arrests with a 92% conviction rate. In 1991 Chief Butts became the youngest chief of police in Southern California when he was sworn in at the age of 38 as the Chief of Police for the City of Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD). Mr. Butts served for 15 years from 1991 to 2006 as Chief. During his service there, the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) also adopted the concepts of Community-Based Policing. When James T. Butts left the City of Santa Monica, he had slashed the Part I crime rate (UCR) by 64%. The only year on record when he left in December of 2006 when crime was lower was 1956, the first year crime statistics were archived for the City of Santa Monica.

When he retired, he left a City (Santa Monica) notorious upon his arrival for its struggles with homelessness, disorder and crime a safe and thriving, international tourist destination. Complaints against police officers declined by 50% during his tenure and police department liability payments by the City fell from $3.5 million in 1991 to under $2,150 (two-thousand-one-hundred-fifty dollars) in 2005, a 99.9% decrease.

In 2006 Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) named Butts its newly established Deputy Executive Director for Public Safety (DED), an Assistant General Manager position. Butts was issued an intelligence classification of Secret by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While serving as the leader of the LAWA police and security forces Butts served as the intergovernmental counterterrorism liaison coordinating the activities of 4,000 counterterrorism, police and security personnel. He oversaw a budget of 116 million dollars. In 2009, Los Angeles International Airport (LAWA's flagship of what at that time was a four-airport system) was named the #1 most secure airport in the United States by the Transportation Security Administration.

His campaign for Mayor of the City of Inglewood, California began in March 2010, and after a close and difficult campaign against incumbent Mayor Daniel K. Tabor he was elected. After defeating Tabor in a City of Inglewood Special Municipal Runoff Election on January 11, 2011 the results were certified by the Inglewood City Council on January 25, 2011. He took office February 1, 2011.

After inheriting a $17.6 million structural deficit, Butts balanced the budget and has overseen two consecutive financially balanced budgets. In 2012, Butts negotiated a development agreement with Madison Square Gardens of New York that resulted in the purchase of the Forum by MSG from Faithful Central Bible Church. The Forum will re-open January 15, 2014. The initial act will be The Eagles. The purchase and anticipated reopening of this iconic entertainment and sports venue was quickly followed by an influx of investor capital (over $180 million) into the Hollywood Park Tomorrow project, a proposed $2 billion development. In 2013, Mayor Butts negotiated an agreement with Los Angeles World Airports to restore lost Residential Sound Insulation funding. The City of Inglewood is on pace to insulate 1,000 homes by May of 2014. In 2012, Butts coordinated the travel of the Space Shuttle Endeavour through the streets of Inglewood en route to its final home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The shuttle stopped at the Forum on Manchester Blvd where the largest outdoor event in the history of Inglewood (estimated 20,000+ persons) was held to greet the Shuttle and the astronauts that piloted her.

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