Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety
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- For other police services named after the county or city of Los Angeles see: Los Angeles Police
| Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety | |
| Common name | Los Angeles County Police |
| Abbreviation | LACP |
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| Patch of the Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety. | |
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| Badge of the Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety. | |
| Motto | Dedicated to the Community We Serve |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1998 |
| Annual budget | $100 million |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | County of Los Angeles in the state of California, United States |
| General nature | |
| Specialist jurisdiction | Buildings and other fixed assets. |
| Operational structure | |
| Police Officers | 580 |
| Civilians Contracted Security Guards |
160 750 |
| Agency executive | Steve Lieberman, Acting Chief of Police |
| Website | |
| Official Site | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety (LACOPS), less formally known as the Los Angeles County Police (LACP), was formed in 1998 as a consolidation of the Department of Parks and Recreation Park Police and the Department of Health Services and Internal Services Department’s Safety Police. LACOPS is the fourth-largest law enforcement agency in Los Angeles County, employing 580 sworn peace officers and 160 civilian personnel, and contracts 750 private security guards. The agency has an annual budget of $100 million. LACOPS was previously a division of the Los Angeles County Department of Human Resources (LACDHR). Currently, they are under a newly-created Public Safety branch of the Chief Executive Office.
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[edit] Merger proposals
There have been occasional calls for the County Police to be merged with (absorbed into) the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, but the offers have been repeatedly rebuffed by its officers and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. On August 8, 2007, the California State Supreme Court denied hearing the appeal of a discrimination lawsuit brought by County police officers. The officers prevailed at trial, convincing a jury that the predominantly minority force had been denied appropriate pay and benefits due to racial discrimination, but the jury's decision had since been reversed by the Appellate Court. The jury found that as a whole County Police officers were as trained and qualified as LASD personnel, the county's primary law enforcement agency. The high court's refusal to hear a final appeal appears to have made a merger with the Sheriff's Department more likely, as they restarted their take-over study just days after the decision was handed down. The merger study reports submitted to the Board of Supervisors will serve as a basis for what should be a final decision about the proposed merger. The Board of Supervisors set aside sufficient funding to complete the merger on September 22, 2009; the merger issue itself will be examined by the Board at a later time.
[edit] Mission
The County Police mission is "To provide protection for patrons, employees, and properties of county departments which contract for such services, and to provide a safe environment for those who use county parks and recreation areas. The Office of Public Safety is committed to maintaining a level of professional competence among its sworn personnel that will ensure the safety of those receiving services, as well as protecting the safety of our police officers."
The current County [[Acting Police chief]] is Steven S. Lieberman, a twenty-four-year veteran of the department. Since the creation of the agency, it has previously been led by Bayan Lewis and Margaret York. There were interim chiefs in between the terms of Lewis and York. Both were previously ranking officers with the Los Angeles Police Department.
The County Police is not to be confused with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department or with the City of Los Angeles General Services Police, which have no connection to County Police despite their agency title of Office of Public Safety. Similar uniforms and patrol areas have led to confusion over the identification of County Police personnel with sheriff's personnel on several occasions.
[edit] Equipment & Uniforms
County Police officers wear the uniform traditional to county law enforcement agencies in California. This includes olive green pants and a tan uniform shirt. Shoulder patches, name plates, and badges complete the uniform. The badge worn by County Police officer's is the traditional L.A. County shield. This badge design is common to almost all county agencies including lifeguards, fire, judges, probation, and animal control. Only the Sheriff and District Attorney Investigators shield differ from the L.A. County shield design. Some special units such as WMD, or boat units wear modified uniforms. Mostly green BDU's or some version of a uniform polo shirt.
Officers currently are issued the Glock 22 .40cal pistol, although some officers in special units may carry the smaller Glock 23, or the larger Glock 21 .45ACP pistol. They retired their aging stock of Beretta 92F and 92FS's in 2006. Officers are authorized to carry firearms off duty and are issued a flat-badge for identifying themselves as peace officers when not in uniform. While on patrol, officers have rapid access in most vehicles to an array of weapons including tasers, AR-15's, Mossberg 590 12ga shotguns, less-lethal (bean bag) shotguns, and 40mm less lethal.
Most patrol assignments drive Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor police cars. They are equipped as are the majority of police vehicles with touch screen computers, emergency lights & sirens, back-seat partitions, and push bumpers. The department changed their vehicle graphics in 2007 to increase their recognition with the public. GMC Yukons, Chevrolet Tahoes, and ATV's are common within the department as well.
[edit] OPS Structure
The OPS maintains four bureaus:
- Administrative Services Bureau
- Contracts & Monitoring
- Fiscal Services
- Fleet Management
- Human Resources
- Information Systems
- Facilities Services Bureau
- DPSS Offices (Department of Public Social Services)
- Dispatch Center and Communications
- Parks Services Bureau
- Belvedere Station (East Los Angeles)
- South Station (South Los Angeles)
- Whittier Narrows Station (South El Monte)
- Quartz Hill Substation (Quartz Hills)
- Castaic Station (Castaic Lake)
- Bonelli Station (Bonelli Regional Park)
- Health Services Bureau
- Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center
- Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
- King/Drew Medical Center & Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center
- Olive View Medical Center
OPS does not have its own custody facilities and books people arrested at one of several L.A. County Sheriff's stations throughout the county. Almost all county police stations are part of a larger structure belonging to a county department that contracts for their services.
OPS fields several specialized units, including Internal Affairs, Background Investigations, Canine, Boat, TRF (Tactical Response Force), WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), and a reserve Mounted Unit. The WMD trains and prepares for the inevitable chaos at county medical facilities in the event of a terrorist attack. TRF officers train and prepare for civil disturbances and crowd control. Both are part time, on-call units which depend on officers in other full time assignments to fill their ranks. Plans to develop investigations, traffic, and gang units have languished for years in a state of indecision often blamed on the uncertainty of a merger and a class action suit filed by its officers.
[edit] Recruitment & Retention
OPS has had difficulty recruiting and retaining sworn officers. Owing to pay below that of rival agencies, and limited career growth has made drawing applicants a challenge. OPS retains a full time recruitment unit to overcome this. Dozens of officers have left the agency to other law enforcement agencies in recent years, usually citing pay or opportunities. Because of the structure of county government, County Police command staff is not permitted to adjust the salary of their personnel. 2007 saw the bulk of the canine unit leave at the same time to another agency. Despite recruitment, the experience officers take when they leave cannot be measured in simple terms.
[edit] Controversy with the agency
The County Police has been relatively free of scandal and bad press. Professional Law Enforcement publications such as the monthly publication from PORAC (Peace Officers Research Association of California) have published articles discussing the high rate of discipline, and specifically discipline overturned by the county's Civil Service Commission, which hears appeals to discipline issued to county personnel. The agency has experienced a sudden loss of many officers, often with significant experience. Officers left to other agencies in an exodus similar to what the Long Beach Police Department experienced in 2006-2007. Unlike LBPD however, little official acknowledgment has been made to the loss of personnel.
[edit] Requirements to become an OPS Officer
County Police recruits must be 20 years and six months at the time of hire. They must have a high school diploma or GED, and pass a series of selection processes, including: written exam, oral interview, background investigation, medical and testing, and a polygraph exam.
OPS requires Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST License) for all sworn officers.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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