Paul Vernon is a retired Los Angeles Police Department captain with more than 33 years of service and specialized expertise in internal investigations, discipline, and police accountability. He brings practical command experience and courtroom-ready analysis to police investigations, policy review, and expert witness matters. He is also president of West Coast Police Integrity Advisors LLC (westcoastpia.com), which provides expert witness consultation and investigative support for attorneys, municipalities, and government agencies.
Paul spent approximately ten years as a detective lieutenant handling specialized assignments involving police accountability, discipline, and internal investigations before his promotion to captain in 2015. He commanded two LAPD patrol divisions and retired in 2021 as captain of the COMPSTAT Division. He consulted on LAPD’s Complaint Management System, a subsystem of the TEAMS II program, and helped develop oversight processes as Gang Coordinator for five divisions to support compliance with Federal Consent Decree provisions.
Paul authored two well-regarded LAPD manuals, Personnel Complaint Investigations: A Guide for Supervisors and The Management Guide to Discipline, both referenced in scholarly works and studies by oversight commissions. He designed and taught a three-day POST-certified course for internal affairs investigators and developed an ethics course for Iowa law enforcement. As LAPD’s lead public information officer from 2005 to 2007, he created a POST-certified media relations course he continues to teach. A graduate of the FBI National Academy (Session 204), he holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Cal Poly Pomona and a graduate degree in criminal justice from Fort Hays State University, and has taught policing, crime analysis, and criminological theory for the Cal State system.
At Titan, Paul provides expert witness consultation, investigative support, and policy review in matters involving police practices, personnel complaint investigations, discipline, ethics, and organizational accountability. He also advises agencies on complaint-management, oversight, and media-relations practices.
Areas of focus
- Internal Affairs & Complaint Investigations
- Discipline & Accountability
- Police Practices & Command Decisions
- Ethics & Public Corruption
- Oversight Systems & Consent-Decree Compliance
- Media Relations & Public Information
Direct contact
Email: paulbvernon@gmail.com