The Santa Monica Police Department has put a lieutenant on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a Los Angeles Police Department criminal investigation.
Lt. Richard Lewis was put on leave last week after LAPD began investigating him during the weekend of July 27, said SMPD spokesperson Lt. Candice Cobarrubias. Neither police department has confirmed why Lewis is under investigation.
“We don’t comment on an ongoing criminal investigation,” Cobarrubias said. “LAPD is doing their own criminal investigation, and then we’ll do our own administrative investigation.”
Lewis has been an SMPD officer since 2001, according to his LinkedIn profile. He began as a uniformed patrol officer and became a robbery and homicide detective in 2003.
Lewis was promoted to sergeant in 2009 and lieutenant in 2013. He worked as a public information officer in both roles, relaying information to the media during the 2013 Santa Monica College shooting.
As a sergeant, he supervised the collateral crime impact team and the field training officer program. He was also an executive officer to the chief of police.
Lewis became an executive officer to the deputy chief of police as a lieutenant and managed the department’s administrative services section. Since 2015, he has managed the robbery and homicide unit, the vice and narcotics unit and the youth and family services unit.
Before Lewis started working in Santa Monica, he was a detective with the Arcadia Police Department between 1995 and 2001 and a senior officer with Metro’s police department from 1990 to 1995, according to his LinkedIn profile. He graduated from the Union Institute and University in Compton.
Lewis is from Northridge and attended Van Nuys High School, according to his Facebook profile. He now lives in Los Angeles.
madeleine@smdp.com
