Leadership
Matthew Barragan,
Inspector General
Matthew Barragan is the Inspector General of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Los Angeles Police Commission. He was appointed in February 2025 and officially commenced his role in March 2025.
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Mr. Barragan has served as an Assistant United States Attorney since 2017. In that role, Mr. Barragan brought civil actions in the United States District Court to enforce federal civil rights laws. He has pursued civil rights matters under several statutes, including the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act. He also works closely with many in the civil rights community, including advocates for religious, ethnic, and racial minority groups.
Mr. Barragan began his legal career with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, working as a staff attorney from 2012-2017. In 2017, he joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, serving in the Complex and Defensive Litigation Section from 2017-2022 and the Civil Rights Section since 2022.
Born and raised in Delano, California, Mr. Barragan received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, and holds a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law.
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Florence Yu,
Assistant Inspector General
Florence Yu serves as the Assistant Inspector General over the OIG’s Complaint Section. The OIG’s Complaint Section oversees the Los Angeles Police Department’s investigation and adjudication of internal affairs investigations, and other areas relevant to police discipline.
Prior to joining the OIG, Ms. Yu was the recipient of an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps fellowship. In her former roles as a direct services attorney, Ms. Yu’s practice areas involved housing issues, immigration, and public benefits.
Ms. Yu holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Southern California and a Juris Doctor from the University of California – Hastings College of the Law.
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Ms. Yu served as the Acting Inspector General from May 2024 to March 2025.
Brian Buchner,
Assistant Inspector General
Brian Buchner is an Assistant Inspector General with the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) where he leads the office’s Audit Section. Brian has held several roles within the OIG, including as a Police Special Investigator in the Use of Force, Complaints, and the former Special Investigations and Compliance sections.
Prior to rejoining the OIG as an Assistant Inspector General, Brian served as the City Homelessness Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles where he oversaw more than $1 billion in funding and led the implementation of the city’s major homelessness initiatives. He has directed city-wide policing and homelessness policy for the Mayor of Los Angeles. Brian is also an expert in police oversight and policy, having worked for several oversight agencies, including the OIG, and advised local, state, national, and international government entities regarding police accountability. He has been invited to testify before numerous task forces and blue-ribbon commissions, including President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Brian has helped to establish civilian oversight agencies across the U.S. and has published numerous articles and reports on police accountability, including an assessment of policing across the University of California system. He also co-led and co-authored the nation’s most comprehensive national survey of police oversight agencies.
Brian teaches graduate-level criminal justice courses at the University of Southern California and previously taught at the undergraduate level at California State University, Los Angeles, including developing and teaching the nation’s first undergraduate course focused specifically on the oversight of policing. Brian serves on the board of Ride On, a nonprofit organization that provides equine-related therapeutic services for children and adults with disabilities. He previously served as a senior fellow with the NYU School of Law’s Policing Project, a senior fellow with the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and as an advisor to the American Law Institute’s Policing Project. He is a past president of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE), the nation’s largest civilian oversight organization, and he served as a commissioner on the Santa Monica Social Services Commission.
Brian earned a BS in criminal justice from Bowling Green State University and an MA in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He also earned a certificate from the USC Safe Communities Institute’s Public Safety Leadership program.
