Assistant Chief Marc Coopwood To Leave Beverly Hills Police

Beverly Hills CA

02 September, 2021

2:34 PM

Description

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Beverly Hills Police Department Assistant Chief Marc Coopwood is resigning and moving into the private sector starting in October, according to a news release from Chief Dominick Rivetti. Coopwood's resignation comes amid a high-profile racial profiling lawsuit facing the city and a former police captain. The department said the resignation has nothing to do with the case. Acting Capt. Max Subin said Coopwood has not announced where he will be working and that his position has not yet been filled. Coopwood came to the department in 2017 after working 22 years at the Sacramento Police Department, the Beverly Hills department said. He previously served as the president of the California Peace Officers' Association, which offers training and education to California law enforcement personnel. The public response has been positive as Coopwood had a good relationship with the public and city council, Subin said. Many people have called to inquire about Coopwood's move and to tell the department they will miss him. "He had a great rapport with the community. He was loved and well-liked with the community members as well as City Council as well as the staff here, of course, in the building," Subin said. "His leadership, his mentoring, his knowledge of police practices is something that we're all going to greatly miss here when he moves on to the private sector." Coopwood's resignation was announced just days after civil rights attorney Ben Crump — famous for his involvement in the Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and City of Flint, Michigan, cases — filed a racial profiling case against the City of Beverly Hills and former BHPD Capt. Scott Dowling Monday. Subin said Coopwood's resignation has nothing to do with the lawsuit. "His resignation is entirely unrelated to the cities' pending lawsuit. Furthermore, he is not even mentioned or named in the lawsuit," Subin said. He added: "His resignation has been planned for many months in order for him to assume a new position in the private sector." The department praised Coopwood's work to increase diversity in the department through hiring, as well as his success in reducing crime in the area and his outreach programs to keep the department connected to the community it serves. The department also celebrated Coopwood's involvement in handling a prolonged period of "civil unrest," referring to last summer's protests following the police killing of George Floyd. The department's handling of this time period has come into question as part of Cump's lawsuit. Coopwood is the third top officer to leave the department in recent years, following former Chief Sandra Spagnoli, who resigned amid lawsuits claiming she made racist remarks and harassed her employees, and Dowling, who left in 2020.