Los Angeles Police Department
|
Parker Center-LAPD's Headquarters |
The
Los Angeles Police Department (
LAPD) is the
police department of the City of
Los Angeles,
California. With over 9,000 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of 473 square miles with a population of nearly 4 million people, it is the third largest law enforcement agency in the
United States (trailing behind the
New York Police Department and
Chicago Police Department). The LAPD has had a rich history, including occasional incidents of brutality and corruption. The agency is famous world wide and has been heavily fictionalized in numerous movies and television shows.
Throughout its modern history, the department has suffered from chronic underfunding and understaffing. In comparison to most large cities, The LAPD has one of the lowest ratios of police personnel to population served and thus the current chief,
William J. Bratton, has made enlarging the force one of his top priorities. (Bratton has been quoted as saying, "You give me 4000 more officers and I'll give you the safest city in the world.") The LAPD's own web site illustrates the challenges faced by the department
LAPD news release of January, 2006. The Los Angeles Police Department protects its city with only one officer for every 426 residents. In contrast, New York City boasts one officer for every 228 residents, while Chicago and Philadelphia have a ratio of one officer per 216 residents, respectively.
The first specific Los Angeles police force was founded in
1853 as the Los Angeles Rangers, a volunteer force that assisted the existing County forces. The Rangers were soon succeeded by the Los Angeles City Guards, another volunteer group. Neither force was particularly efficient and Los Angeles became known for its violence,
gambling and "
vice".
The first paid force was not created until
1869 when a force of six officers under
City Marshal William C. Warren were hired. Warren was shot by one of his officers in 1876 and, to replace him, the newly created Board of Police commissioners selected
Jacob T. Gerkins. Gerkins was replaced within a year by saloon owner
Emil Harris, the second of fifteen police chiefs from
1876-
89.
The first chief to remain in office for any time was
John M. Glass; appointed in 1889, he served for eleven years and was a driving force for increased professionalism in the force. By
1900 there were 70 officers, one for every 1,500 people; in
1903, with the start of the
Civil Service, this force was increased to 200, although training was not introduced until
1916. The rapid turnover of chiefs was renewed in the
1900s as the office became increasingly politicized; from
1900 to
1923 there were sixteen different chiefs. The longest-lasting was
Charles E. Sebastian, who served from
1911-
1915 before going on to become
mayor.
In 1910 the department promoted the first sworn female police officer with full powers in the United States, Alice Stebbins-Wells. Georgia Ann Robinson became the first African-American female police officer in the country in 1916.[
1]
During
World War I the force became involved with
federal offenses, and much of the force was organized into a special
Home Guard. In the postwar period, the department became highly corrupt along with much of the city government; this state lasted until the late
1930s. Two police chiefs did work within a mandate for anti-corruption and reform.
August Vollmer laid the ground for future improvements but served for only a single year.
James E. Davis served from
1926-
1931 and from
1933-
1939. In his first term he fired almost a fifth of the force for bad conduct, and instituted extended firearms training and also the dragnet system. In his second term Davis instituted a "Red Squad" to attack
Communists and their offices.
With the replacement of Mayor
Frank L. Shaw in 1938, the city gained a reformist mayor in
Fletcher Bowron. He forced dozens of city commissioners out, as well as more than 45 LAPD officers. Bowron also appointed the first African American and the first woman to the Police Commission. The modernizer
Arthur C. Hohmann was made chief in 1939 and resigned in 1941 after the notorious strike at the North American Aviation plant in
Inglewood, in which he refused to use the LAPD as strikebreakers.
During
World War II, under Police Chief
Clemence B. Horrall, the force was heavily depleted by the demands of the armed forces; new recruits were given only six weeks training (twelve was normal). Despite the attempts to maintain numbers the police could do little to control the
1943 Zoot Suit Riots. War Emergency personnel were given a "WE" designation with their badge numbers to distinguish them from other officers.
Among the department's more notorious cases of the Horrall years was the
January 15,
1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, known as the
Black Dahlia.
|
"To protect and to serve" |
Horrall and Assistant Chief Joe Reed resigned in
1949 under threat of a grand jury investigation related to the
Brenda Allen scandal. One of Horrall and Reed's more enduring actions was to approve a radio show about the LAPD titled
Dragnet.
Horrall was replaced by a retired
Marine general, William A. Worton, who acted as interim chief until
1950, when
William H. Parker was chosen in tight competition with
Thad Brown. Parker advocated police professionalism and autonomy from civilian administration, especially as concerns internal affairs. The
Bloody Christmas scandal in
1951 led to calls for civilian accountability and an end to
police brutality.
Parker served until his death in
1966 from a heart attack, the longest period in office of any Chief. Fortunately for the LAPD, Parker was an excellent leader, reorganizing the LAPD structurally but also making demands of his force in areas of honesty and discipline. The motto "To Protect and to Serve" was introduced in
1955. During this period the LAPD set the standards of professionalism echoed in the contemporaneous TV series
Dragnet and
Adam-12. The most serious challenge in this period was the
1965 Watts riots.
Parker was succeeded by Thad Brown as acting chief in 1966, followed by
Thomas Reddin in
1967. Following an interim term by Chief
Roger E. Murdock, the outspoken
Edward M. Davis became chief in
1969; despite his occasional lapses, he introduced a number of modern programs aimed at
community policing as well as the
SWAT unit (
1972); he retired in
1978.
During the term of Chief Davis, the LAPD pioneered tactics and procedures that would serve as the blueprints of modern community-policing. Known as the "basic car plan" or "team policing" the department sought to build strong ties to the community through the permamnent assignment and deployment of of teams of officers - patrol, detectives, and supervisors - to identified geographic areas. This allowed the officers to develop a working knowledge of their community and fostered familiarity, trust and respect on the part of the community toward its police.
The successor to Davis,
Daryl F. Gates, came into office just as
Proposition 13 reduced the department's budget, cutting police numbers to less than 7,000 in seven years just as drug and gang crime reached unprecedented highs. To combat the rising tide of gang-related violence, Gates introduced
Operation Hammer in
1987, which resulted in an unprecedented number of arrests, mostly of
African-American and
Hispanic youths. Gates retired in
1992, just after the
Rodney King-related
1992 Los Angeles riots in April and May and the damaging
Christopher Commission Report, and was replaced by
Willie L. Williams, the fiftieth chief, the first African-American officer to hold the office and the first non-internal appointee for almost 40 years. In
1997 Williams was replaced by
Bernard Parks, during whose term the LAPD was rocked by the
Rampart Division/CRASH corruption scandal. In 1997 one of the biggest challenges for the LAPD and LAPD SWAT was the
North Hollywood shootout in which two bank robbers armed with automatic rifles and wearing body armor shot twelve responding officers and seven bystanders. In
2002,
William J. Bratton replaced Parks.
In 2005, the LAPD began showing action-packed mini-movies online and at movie theaters to promote recruiting. The movies feature real LAPD officers and what they do.
Mayor Hahn replaced Airport Police Officers with LAPD Officers in the LAX terminals, stating the public feels much safer when they first enter Los Angeles and see a Los Angeles Police Officer. On May 17, 2005, Los Angeles voters rejected a plan that would merge LAPD and Los Angeles Airport Police. The argument against this proposal is that Los Angeles Airport Police officers have had extensive training at Airport Security. And LAPD would have to be trained in this new function. LAPD officers are still assigned to terminals in the LAX airport.
In 2006, the LAPD announced relocations of two LAPD stations, including the headquarters (to replace Parker Center), and Hollenbeck Community Police Station. Hollenbeck Community Police Station is the oldest of all LAPD stations and is being replaced because 1950s era police stations were not open to the public. Thus, the new Hollenbeck station will be open to the public.
Also in 2006, the LAPD announced the groundbreaking for two new Community Police Stations. The groundbreaking for the 20th station, Mid-City Community Police Station, was on May 4, 2006. Groundbreaking for the 21st station, Northwest Community Police Station, was on May 11, 2006.
The Northwest Community Policy Station will be formed from parts of the existing West Valley Area and Devonshire Area in the Operations-Valley Bureau.
In 2006, Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa proposed raising trash fees to hire about 1,000 LAPD officers in five years.
Most cities have cars in various colors that can be resold as normal cars, but the LAPD has traditionally used the "black and white" paint scheme, with black front and tail, and white cab / door areas that are quite distinctive in traffic.
These cars also appeared on the TV series
Adam-12* 1968 and 1969
Plymouth Belvedere* 1971
Plymouth Satellite* 1972
AMC Matador*
LAPD Organizational Chart*
LAPD Citywide-Bureau Map*
Current Command Staff*
Citywide CompStat StatisticsPresently, the Los Angeles Police Department is organized as follows:
|
Central Patrol Division Building |
*
Office of the Chief of Police*
Chief of Staff**
Employee Relations Group**
Public Information Office**
Use of Force Review Division**
Community Relations Section**
Governmental Liaison Section**
Department Events, Photo & Graphics Section*
Director, Office of Operations**
Assistant to the Director, Office of Operations***
Chief Duty Officer***
Real-Time Analysis & Critical Response Division***
Jail Division*** Evaluation & Administration Section
***
Labor Liaison Section**
CompStat Unit**
Special Operations Bureau***
Assistant Commanding Officer, Special Operations Bureau***
Metropolitan Division***
Air Support Division***
Special Operations Support Division**
Detective Bureau***
Assistant Commanding Officer, Detective Bureau***
Narcotics Division***
Robbery-Homicide Division***
Commercial Crimes Division***
Detective Support Division***
Vice Division***
Juvenile Division***
Investigative Analysis Unit**
Operations-Central Bureau***
Central Area***
Hollenbeck Area***
Newton Area***
Northeast Area***
Rampart Area***
Central Traffic Division**
Operations-South Bureau***
77th Street Area***
Harbor Area***
Southeast Area***
Southwest Area***
South Traffic Division**
Operations-Valley Bureau***
Devonshire Area***
Foothill Area***
Mission Area***
North Hollywood Area***
Van Nuys Area***
West Valley Area***
Valley Traffic Division**
Operations-West Bureau***
Hollywood Area***
Pacific Area****
LAX Field Services Division***
West Los Angeles Area***
Wilshire Area***
West Traffic Division*
Director, Office of Support Services**
Executive Officer***
Planning & Research Division**
TEAMS II Development Bureau**
Behavioral Sciences Services**
Ombuds Office**
Transit Liaison Unit**
Information & Communications Services Bureau***
Assistant Commanding Officer***
Communications Division***
Emergency Command Control Communications System Division***
Information Technology Division***
Records & Identification Division**
Administrative & Technical Services Bureau***
Assistant Commanding Officer****
Property Division****
Motor Transport Division****
Scientific Investigation Division***
Personnel Group***
Facilities Management Division***
Fiscal Operations Division**
Training Group***
Training Division***
Police Education & Training*
Professional Standards Bureau**
Internal Affairs Group***
Administrative Investigation Division***
Criminal Investigation Division**
Special Operations Division**
Force Investigation Division*
Consent Decree Bureau**
Risk Management Group**
Civil Rights Integrity Division**
Audit Division*
Counter Terrorism & Criminal Intelligence Bureau**
Assistant Commanding Officer**
Major Crimes Division**
Emergency Services DivisionNote: The Mission Area began operations in May 2005; the first new division to be deployed in more than a quarter of a century. The division covers the eastern half of the old Devonshire and the western half of the Foothill Divisions in the San Fernando Valley.
Note: The Real-Time Analysis & Critical Response Division began operations in March 2006; It is comprised of the Emergency Operations Section, which includes the Department Operations Center Unit, Department Operations Support Unit and the Incident Command Post Unit; Detective Support Section and the Crime Analysis Section.
During the Parker-Davis-Gates period, the LAPD was virtually 100%
white, and much of it lived outside of the city.
Simi Valley, the
Ventura County suburb that later became infamous as the site of the state trial that immediately preceded the
1992 Los Angeles riots, has long been home to a particularly large concentration of LAPD officers, almost all of them white. The
Santa Clarita area and the
South Bay beach cities are also popular destinations. Hiring quotas began to change this during the 1980s, but it was not until the
Christopher Commission reforms that substantial numbers of black, Hispanic, and Asian officers began to join the force. Minority officers can be found in both rank-and-file and leadership positions in virtually all precincts, and the LAPD is starting to reflect the general population. As of
2002, 16.5% of the LAPD is African American, 34.2% is Latino, and 6.9% is Asian or Pacific Islander. [
2]
The LAPD hired the first female police officer in the United States in
1910. Since then, women have been a small, but growing part of the force. In
2002, women made up 18.9% of the force.
The ranks of the LAPD are as follows:
LAPD Ranks*Police Officer I, II, & III;
**Police Officer I & II have no insignia of rank
**Police Officer III has two silver chevrons
**Police Officer IIIs, who are in advanced pay grades (including Police Office III+I/Senior Lead Officer) have two silver chevrons above a silver star.
*Police Detective I, II & III;
**Detective I has two silver chevrons above a silver lozenge; Detective II has three silver chevrons above a silver lozenge; Detective III has three silver chevrons above a silver arc, with a silver lozenge in between.
*Police Sergeant I & II;
**Sergeant I has three silver chevrons; Sergeant II has three silver chevrons above a silver arc.
*Police Lieutenant I & II;
**Lieutenant I & II both wear one silver bar.
*Police Captain I, II, & III;
**Captain I, II & III all wear two silver bars.
*Police Commander;
**Commander wears one silver star.
*Police Deputy Chief I (Deputy Chief);
**Deputy Chief wears two silver stars.
*Police Deputy Chief II (Assistant Chief);
**Assistant Chief wears three silver stars.
*Chief of Police
**Chief wears four silver stars.
The Onion Field,
Joseph Wambaugh, 1973
Helter Skelter,
Vincent Bugliosi 1974
Boot: An L.A.P.D. Officer's Rookie Year,
William C. Dunn, 1996
One Time: The Story of A South Central Los Angeles Police Officer,
Brian S. Bentley, 1997
The New Centurions,
Joseph Wambaugh, 1970
The Choirboys,
Joseph Wambaugh, 1975
L.A. Confidential,
James Ellroy, 1990 (& 1997 motion picture)
White Jazz,
James Ellroy, 1993
*''Books by best-selling author
Michael Connelly featuring
Harry Bosch, the "rebel" LAPD Officer
*
Assault on Precinct 13, 1976
*
The Choirboys, 1977
*
Blue Thunder, 1983
*
The Terminator (and sequels), 1984
*
Cobra, 1986
*
Lethal Weapon (and sequels), 1987
*
Colors, 1988
*
Die Hard, 1988
*
Dragnet, 1987
*
Lionheart, 1990
*
Boyz N the Hood, 1991
*
Deep Cover, 1992
*
Menace II Society, 1993
*
Last Action Hero, 1993
*
Speed, 1994
*
Heat, 1995
*
LAPD: To Protect and Serve, 1995
*
L.A. Confidential, 1997
*
Rush Hour, 1998
*
Blue Streak, 1999
*
Training Day, 2001
*
Dark Blue, 2002
*
Showtime, 2002
*
National Security, 2003
*
44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out, 2003
*
S.W.A.T., 2003
*
Wonderland, 2003
*
Collateral, 2004
*
Crash, 2004
*
Hostage, 2005
*
Constantine, 2005
*
Dirty, 2005
*
Badge of Honor: An Insider's History of the LAPD, 2005
Dragnet, 1951-1959, 1966-1970, etc.
Adam-12, 1968-1975
Columbo, 1971-1978
Police Woman, 1974-1978
Hunter, 1984-1991
Mathnet, 1987-1996
LAPD: Life On the Beat, 1995-1998
*
24 (TV series), 2001-present
Boomtown, 2002-2003
Fastlane, 2002-2003
The Shield, 2002-present
The Closer, 2005-present
Wanted, 2005-present
Punk'd, 2005
1NOTE
1 In order to trick
Viva La Bam star
Bam Margera on
MTV's
Punk'd,
Ashton Kutcher received special permission from the LAPD to use the real LAPD SWAT team [
3].
Police Quest IV: Open Season, 1993
Daryl F. Gates Police Quest: SWAT, 1995
Duke Nukem 3D, 1996
Future Cop: LAPD, 1998
Police Quest: SWAT 2, 1998
SWAT 3, 1999
True Crime: Streets of LA, 2003
SWAT 4, 2005
SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate, 2006
24: The Game, 2006
The Offspring released the song "L.A.P.D." on their 1992 album Ignition. The lyrics referred to the ongoing scandals of brutality within the department.
*
System of a Down's song "Deer Dance" from the album "
Toxicity" is about police brutality, LAPD in particular.
| Name | Term | | Jacob T. Gerkins | December 18, 1876-December 26, 1877 |
| Emil Harris | December 27, 1877-December 5, 1878 |
| Henry King | December 5, 1878-December 11, 1880 |
| George E. Gard | December 12, 1880-December 10, 1881 |
| Henry King | December 11, 1881-June 30, 1883 |
| Thomas J. Cuddy | July 1, 1883-January 1, 1885 |
| Edward McCarthy | January 2, 1885-May 12, 1885 |
| John Horner | May 13, 1885-December 22, 1885 |
| James W. Davis | December 22, 1885-December 8, 1886 |
| John K. Skinner | December 13, 1886-August 29, 1887 |
| P.M. Darcy | September 5, 1887-January 22, 1888 |
| Thomas J. Cuddy | January 23, 1888-September 4, 1888 |
| L.G. Loomis | September 5, 1888-Sept. 30, 1888 |
| Hubert H. Benedict | October 1, 1888-January 1, 1889 |
| Terrence Cooney | January 1, 1889-April 1, 1889 |
| James E. Burns | April 1, 1889-July 17, 1889 |
| John M. Glass | July 17, 1889-January 1, 1900 |
| Charles Elton | 1900-1904 |
| William A. Hammell | 1904-1905 |
| Walter H. Auble | 1905-1906 |
| Edward Kern | 1906-1909 |
| Thomas Broadhead | 1909 |
| Edward F. Dishman | 1909-1910 |
| Alexander Galloway | 1910-1911 |
| Charles E. Sebastian | 1911-1915 |
| Clarence E. Snively | 1915-1916 |
| John L. Butler | 1916-1919 |
| George K. Home | 1919-1920 |
| Alexander W. Murray | 1920 |
| Lyle Pendegast | 1920-1921 |
| Charles A. Jones | 1921-1922 |
| James W. Everington | 1922 |
| Louis D. Oaks | 1922-1923 |
| August Vollmer | 1923-1924 |
| R. Lee Heath | 1924-1926 |
| James E. Davis | 1926-1929 |
| Roy E. Steckel | 1929-1933 |
| James E. Davis | 1933-1938 |
| D. A. Davidson | 1938-1939 |
| Arthur C. Hohmann | 1939-1941 |
| Clemence B. Horrall | 1941-1949 |
| William A. Worton | 1949-1950 |
| William H. Parker | 1950-1966 |
| Thad F. Brown | 1966-1967 |
| Thomas Reddin | 1967-1969 |
| Roger E. Murdock | 1969 |
| Edward M. Davis | August 29, 1969-January 16, 1978 [4] |
| Robert F. Rock | January 16, 1978-March 28, 1978 |
| Daryl F. Gates | March 28, 1978-June 27, 1992 |
| Willie L. Williams | June 30, 1992-May 17, 1997 |
| Bayan Lewis | May 18, 1997-August 12, 1997 |
| Bernard C. Parks | August 12, 1997-May 4, 2002 [5] |
| Martin H. Pomeroy | May 7, 2002-October 26, 2002 [6] |
| William J. Bratton | October 27, 2002 -present [7] |
*
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department*Corwin, Miles (1997).
The Killing Season . New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-6848-0235-X.
*Corwin, Miles (2003).
Homicide Special: A Year With the LAPD's Elite Detective Unit. New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-6798-1.
*Domanick, Joe (1994).
To Protect and to Serve: The LAPD's Century of War in the City of Dreams. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-9727-6255-8.
*Gates, Daryl F. (1992).
Chief: My Life in the LAPD. New York: Bantam. ISBN 0-553-56205-3.
*Sjoquist, Art R. (1984).
History of the Los Angeles Police Department. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club.
*Starr, Kevin (2004).
Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003. New York: Knopf.
*Stoker, Charles (1951).
Thicker'n Thieves. Sutter.
*Wambaugh, Joseph (1973).
The Onion Field. Delacorte.
*Webb, Jack (1958).
The Badge: The Inside Story of One of America's Great Police Departments. New York: Prentice-Hall.
*
Official web site*
Official LAPD blog*
LAPD History of the LAPD*
LAPD list of movies and TV programs*
LAPD Recruitment*
LAPD Jobs*
Future Cop: LAPD (computer game)
