Deputy Chief Mark Perez was raised in Northeast Los Angeles, graduating from Franklin High School in 1974. He received an A.A. degree from Pasadena City College in Administration of Justice, and received a B.A. (major in Philosophy, minor in Creative Writing) and M.A. (Philosophy) from California State University, Los Angeles.

Chief Perez worked four years as a police officer with the Pasadena (California) Police Department before being appointed to LAPD in September, 1982. He promoted to Sergeant in 1990, to Lieutenant in 1993, to Captain in 1999, to Commander in 2002 and to Deputy Chief in December 2006.

His first 12 years of police experience was principally in patrol, and was followed by assignments in Internal Affairs' Advocate Section, and administrative positions in Operations-Central, Human Resources, and Operations-South Bureau. He was assigned as Commanding Officer of North Hollywood Detectives, DARE Division, Communications Division, Employee Relations Group and Professional Standards Bureau.

Chief Perez is currently the Commanding Officer of Professional Standards Bureau (PSB).  He oversees PSB, Internal Affairs Group and approximately 260 sworn and civilian employees.