Senate confirms Andre Birotte as next US Attorney for Southland

Andre Birotte Jr., inspector general of the Los Angeles Police Department, was confirmed today by the Senate as the next U.S. Attorney for the district covering Southern California.

The 43-year-old son of Haitian immigrants was nominated for the job by President Barack Obama.

Birotte will be the first black U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, the nation's most populous, with responsibility for all federal litigation in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara
and Ventura counties.

Birotte could not immediately be reached, and a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment.

The U.S. Attorney's position has been vacant since the September resignation of Thomas P. O'Brien, a career prosecutor who helped increase criminal filings in the office and presided over a wave of new hirings.

Birotte, who works for the Los Angeles Police Commission, the civilian panel that oversees the LAPD, has been inspector general since 2003 and served as assistant inspector general from 2001 to 2003.

He heads a staff of about 30 attorneys, auditors and former law enforcement officials that oversee Police Department investigations. From 1995 to 1999, he was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

Birotte graduated from Tufts University in 1987 and Pepperdine University School of Law 1991. He started his legal career as a deputy public defender for Los Angeles County, a job he held from 1991 to 1995.

He was recommended to Obama by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., after being selected by a bipartisan advisory committee she established.

"Andre Birotte Jr. is an outstanding candidate with strong support in the local community,'' she said in December. "He is highly qualified and I believe would bring significant experience to the office ... I was pleased to recommend him to the president.''

As inspector general of the LAPD, Birotte earned "the enthusiastic support of both the police officers he is charged with investigating and the community organizations that often raise concerns regarding police behavior,'' Feinstein said.

The choice was also welcomed by the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents the LAPD rank-and-file.

"As United States Attorney, Mr. Birotte will possess the understanding and recognition of the practices, issues and challenges facing local law enforcement,'' LAPPL President Paul M. Weber said earlier.

With headquarters in Los Angeles, the local U.S. Attorney's Office has an authorized staff of about 265 assistant U.S. attorneys, making it the nation's biggest after the District of Columbia office, which handles both federal and non-federal crimes in Washington.

The office Birotte is poised to lead is divided into three litigating divisions -- criminal, civil and tax -- and a non-attorney administrative division. Its jurisdiction includes 35 cities with more than 100,000 residents
each and covers more than 40,000 square miles, extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Nevada and Arizona borders.