Sandra Figueroa-Villa

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Sandra Figueroa-Villa is a longtime community leader and former member of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, the five-person panel that oversees the Los Angeles Police Department. She is widely seen as a key leader in Los Angeles’ Latino community. Born and raised in South Los Angeles, she attended Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights and earned a degree from California State University, Los Angeles. For about 40 years she worked in the nonprofit sector and has been the executive director of El Centro del Pueblo since 1980, a group focused on reducing gang violence. Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed her to the LAPD Board of Police Commissioners in 2013. In 2017 she voted in favor of a pilot program to use unarmed drones in limited high-risk police situations. She also serves on the Cal State LA President’s Council. In August 2019, the Los Angeles Times reported that she did not disclose that her nonprofit received millions of dollars in city contracts to work with police on gang initiatives, and a $7,500 donation from PredPol, a technology firm tied to the LAPD that develops crime-prediction software.