Merrick Bobb, a leading figure in the movement for police oversight in Los Angeles and other cities, died Thursday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was 79. His death was confirmed by his two children, Matthew and Jonathan.
Bobb lived in Los Feliz for over four decades and is survived by his four grandchildren. He was known for his advocacy of civilian oversight of law enforcement agencies, a cause he continued to champion after becoming paralyzed from Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2003.
“He was always a person who was really engaged in the world,” said Jonathan Bobb during an interview with his brother. “I think that growing up in the 1950s and 1960s with the civil rights movement and other associated movements was very seminal for him in terms of instilling belief in justice [and] understanding the voices of traditionally underrepresented groups.”
Beginning in 1993, Bobb served as special counsel to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for twenty years. During this period, he submitted semiannual reports detailing issues such as violence within county jails and use of excessive force, which led to several departmental reforms.
In 2014, following criticism over jail conditions and concerns that oversight efforts had not gone far enough, the Board created the Office of Inspector General and ended Bobb’s role with the county.
Two years earlier, a federal judge appointed Bobb as independent monitor for Seattle Police Department’s consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice. He resigned from this position in 2020 after protesting against what he described as “powerful and injurious” crowd control weapons used on protesters after George Floyd’s death.
Bobb founded the Police Assessment Resource Center in 2001. The nonprofit organization provides “independent, evidence-based counsel on effective, respectful, and publicly accountable policing,” according to then-vice president Matthew Barge.
Earlier in his career, Bobb worked as deputy general counsel for the Christopher Commission following Rodney King’s beating by LAPD officers. The commission’s report criticized persistent excessive force within LAPD ranks and called on Chief Daryl Gates to resign.
He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1968 before earning a law degree from UC Berkeley three years later. From 1973 until 1996 he practiced law privately; he left private practice after being named one of L.A.’s top lawyers by Los Angeles Business Journal to focus on police oversight work.
Matthew Bobb reflected on his father’s character: “No matter who it was in his life he was engaging with at that point, he focused in on them and developed a personal connection,” he said. “You never knew if he was going to be having lunch with the former chief of police or his former handyman who came by once a week, and everyone in between.”
Survivors include his children; grandchildren; ex-wife Aviva Koenigsberg Bobb—a retired judge; sister Gloria Kern; and longtime assistant Jeffrey Yanson.
A funeral service is scheduled for September 5 at Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills.
