Los Angeles Police Department

"LAPD" redirects here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).

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 more than 3 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 many incidents of heroism. 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 historically had 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 [1]. For example, New York City boasts one officer for every 228 residents. In Chicago, the ratio is one officer per 216 citizens and in Philadelphia there is one officer for every 219 persons. By contrast, the Los Angeles Police Department protects its city with only one officer for every 426 residents. For Los Angeles to have the same ratio of officers as New York City, the LAPD would need nearly 17,000 officers.

History

File:Parkercenter.jpg

Parker Center-LAPD's Headquarters

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 created in 1869, when six officers were hired to serve under City Marshal William C. Warren. Warren was shot by one of his men in 1876 and, to replace him, the newly created Board of Police Commissioners selected Jacob F. Gerkens. The latter was replaced within a year by saloon owner Emil Harris, the second of fifteen police chiefs from 1876 to 1889.

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.[2]

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.

Image:LAPD chopper.jpg

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.

LAPD's Helicopter

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.

File:Prkrctrfront.jpg

Headquarters

"To protect and to serve"

LAPD Academy

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; Chief Davis introduced a number of modern programs aimed at community policing, special street gang control units, as well as the SWAT unit (1972); he retired in 1978.

The street gang control units were structured by Deputy Chief Louis Sporrer who commanded Operations South Bureau which was the Headquarters for the South Central Los Angeles police divisions. In 1972 street gangs were becoming a growing problem and initially were made-up of the best known gang structures of the Crips and the Bloods. A Gang Intelligence unit was set up in 77th Street Division headed by a Sergeant Robert Michael. A uniformed team was set up and given the acronym of TRASH, or Total Resources Against Street Hoodlums, headed by SergeantI Beno Hernandez. It was from this time on that the flattering term gang was dropped and the term 'hoodlums' was adopted.

Intelligence indicated that each gang had a 'leader', a few close 'associates' and follower 'acquaintances' and when the 'leader was removed by arrest and detention that crime in the groups area of control went down significantly, and when the leader returned, crime returned to its previous level. To address this phenomenon, and to give courts a better understanding of whom they were dealing with, a joint task force of police, probation, parole, schools, and others formed an entity with an acronym of DDCP, or Disposition Data Coordination Project. This entity was housed in the South Bureau, and coordinated by the Intelligence Sergeant II Robert Michael. DDCP was a pre-sentence gathering of reputation information in the community, allowed under California law to be considered by the Court.

The DDCP was a repository of sources for the court to consider in its sentencing disposition. Soon, however it was dubbed the Alpha File by several attorneys and the ACLU filed suit against the City of Los Angeles. The DDCP project was later terminated at the discretion of the City of Los Angeles. At about the same time complaints began being made, from activists outside the City and South Bureau area, that TRASH was demeaning to the group members. Chief Sporrer renamed the units CRASH, or Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, and it remained operational as it had been before the name change. These very effective police specialists are still policing today as they began in 1972 and still under the CRASH acronym.

Also, 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 permanent assignment and deployment 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 as well as a replacement for one older station. 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. Rampart Station is also moving from Rampart Boulevard on Benton Way to a civilian LAPD facility on 6th St. and Valencia St. that is being rebuilt. (Exteriors from Rampart division on Rampart and Benton were filmed for the Adam-12 television series. The department does not permit the interiors of police stations filmed for motion picture purposes, so interiors were filmed at Universal Studios in Universal City, California.)

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 initiated gradual increases in trash collection fees paid by property owners to hire about 1,000 LAPD officers over the next five years.

The LAPD has a rich heritage of police brutality against members of the community which it serves.

Radio

Inspired by a contest in 1924, Police Chief R. Lee Heath ordered his staff to investigate the use of radio to "more quickly dispatch officers to where they are needed." It wasn't until Police Chief Roy E. Steckel, however, that the department would be assigned its first FCC license. On May 1, 1932, KGPL began broadcasting at 1,712kHz. Even though this was after the Berkeley Police Department obtained a broadcasting license in 1928, the NBC television drama Adam-12 (produced by Jack Webb, the star of the well-known radio and television drama Dragnet, from which Adam-12 was spun-off) popularized the LAPD's use of radio broadcasting.

Today, telephone calls into the department for police service are handled by the Communications Division. First, an Emergency Board Operator (EBO) answers calls placed to 9-1-1 (with a lower number of operators assigned to the non-emergency 1-877-ASK-LAPD number). A call for service results in an incident number, which resets to the number 1--citywide--at midnight each night. Upon receiving the incident, the Radio Telephone Operator (RTO) will go on the air to broadcast to the division (with the option to simulcast on bureau-wide or citywide frequencies). Today, RTO provide the following information in what is known as a crime broadcast:

• to whom this message is intended (a particular unit, a certain division's units, or, "all units"),
• the type of crime that just occured (usually by California penal code but sometimes an abreviation, established by the Communications Division),
• how long ago the crime occured,
• where,
• a quantity of suspects (if more than one),
• a description of the suspect(s), their clothing and/or other uniquely-identifiable attributes, if available, with what they might be armed.
• Additional details may include information about the "PR" (person reporting) or simply instructions to "monitor comments for further" (a direction to responding officers to read the about the incident on their in-car Mobile Data Terminals).
• The broadcast always concludes with a code (such as Code 3 or Code 2 for immediate response but without siren with red and blue lights), the incident number and the "RD" or reporting district (a numbered area within the division).

There may also be a request by the RTO for the responding unit handling to identify.

A ficitious example of a radio call might begin with tones (to alert patrol units that a broadcast will follow), "Any central unit, a 211 just occured at 714 south Broadway Street at the Footlocker. Suspect was a male white, five-foot eleven, approximately 170 pounds; shaved head, brown eyes, goatee, white t-shirt, dark baggy pants. Weapon used was a revolver. Monitor comments for additional. Code 2. Incident number 555 in RD 193."

"Control" (the radio name for Communications division) as well as units in the area also use a wide variety of codes, the most common of which are:

• Code 1 - answer your radio
• Code 2 - respond immediately
• Code 3 - respond immediately with lights and siren
• Code 4 - no further units need respond
• Code 5 - marked police cars must avoid this area
• Code 6 - unit has arrived, officers investigating
• Code 7 - meal break request (not granted when their bureau or the city goes on "tac" or tactical alert, which allows the department to draw any available unit from any division if necessary)
• Code 10 - request to clear frequency for crime broadcast
• Code 12 - False Alarm
• Code 30 - Burglar Alarm (can be Code 30-Silent)
• Code 37 - Vehicle is Reported Stolen

Typical radio traffic (usually not simulcast citywide) includes the activity generated from traffic stops. A patrol unit may radio control that they are "code 6" on a traffic stop, to which control will give the "Roger." acknowledgement. Additional broadcasts will be requests for information on "cal IDs" (the numbers that appear at the top of California Department of Motor Vehicle driver licenses) or on vehicle license plates. The result of which provides all of the expected details about the subject plus important details such as whether or not the licensee has any wants or warrants, FTAs (failure to appear in court) or FTPs (failure to pay a fine), etc. In the case of a vehicle, whether or not it is Code 37. Off the air and via MDT, officers can also see to whom the vehicle is registered.

A noticable characteristic of police broadcasts is the expedited nature of crime broadcasts; due to the number of broadcasts that need to be made at any given moment of the day, each transmission is necessarily as brief as possible. As a standard of police professionalism, RTOs are trained to use a tone that is strictly business-like.

Digital Frequencies

After the parade in Los Angeles celebrating the Los Angeles Lakers 2001 NBA championship title, the police department switched from analog frequencies to digital frequencies. This ended a long-lasting era of the public having easy listening access to police broadcasts that started when the department had initially set up agreements with a local, commercial AM radio station to interrupt regularly scheduled programming for a crime broadcast. Officers were tuned to a specific radio station. However, as the amount of broadcasting needed increased, the department established its first transmission tower in Elysian Park and eventually began broadcasting over dozens of frequencies in the 400kHz and 500kHz ranges.

Radio Cars

From the perspective of control, each unit is represented by an LAPD-specific callsign. Typically, a callsign is made up of three elements: the division number, the unit type and the "beat" number. For example, division 1 is Central Division (or, now, "Central Area"), an "A" is patrol unit with two officers and their beat number can be a number like 12. Such a unit would identify themselves as 1-A-12 (or 1-Adam-12, using an LAPD-version of the the phonetical alphabet). There are several patrol types:

• X - extra patrol
• L - supervisor, single officer car (normally an officer with the rank of Sergeant
• M - motorcycle unit (MQ - motorcyle on special assignment, MX - DUI enforcement)
• CL or "cycle" - bicycle unit
• FB - foot beat (foot patrol)
• T - traffic investigator
• TL - a traffic supervisor, single officer car (a Sergeant in a Traffic Division)
• G - Gang enforcement unit
• J - Juvenile Investigator (JW - Female Juvenile Investigator)
• W - Detective
• U - Report-taking Unit (nicknamed "U-boats," normally stationwagons when available to the motor pool)
• OP - Observation Post (normally, a small bus operating as a mobile command unit for major incidents)
• Z - Reserve (volunteer) officer unit

The immediate supervisor of any patrol officer is called the Watch Commander--a Sergeant at the police station for its geographic division. Their radio code always ends in L10 (eg., the watch commander at division 6 or Hollywood Area station is always 6-L-10). Field supervisors typically have beats that end in zero beginning from 2 through 7 (for example, 7-L-60 for a Wilshire Area supervisor).

Radio Equipment

Officers out of their cars are able to communicate over the air using portible Motorola radios nicknamed ROVERs. These large hand-held radios are normally utility belt-mounted. For convenience, smaller, corded, hand-held microphones can be plugged into these radios and then clipped to parts of the uniform shirt such as a front pocket or shoulder loop.

Mobility

To patrol the 4,850 square miles of the city of Los Angeles, the police department utilizes a number of different types of vehicles:

Sedans

With few 9C1 Chevrolet Caprice vehicles remaining in the motor pool (as the final model year of the Chevrolet Caprice was 1996), the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is the only sedan for patrol in the department fleet. Only the sedan is permitted to engage in a vehicle pursuit, pursuant to department policy. Like most police agencies throughout southern California, Los Angeles Police Department vehicles are ordered painted in black clearcoat with the roof, doors, and pillars painted white from the factory. Options available from Ford ordered by the department include the handle-bar spotlamps, 16-inch heavy duty steel wheels with chrome center caps, and ballstic panels within the two front doors.

Installed equipment includes the lightbar, front-grill siren and control box from Federal Signal Corporation, the digital two-way radio by Motorola, a notebook PC to function as the Mobile data terminal, and a partition to separate the prisoner rear seating from the driver and front passenger seats. So-called "A-cars" and "X-cars" (eXtra patrol) also have mounted between the front seats in front of the partition a shotgun.

Most police vehicles bear at least two rear bumper stickers: one reading "There's NO Excuse - For Domestic Violence" and another for "DARE" Drug Abuse Resistance Education. On the rear side panel is a black and white sticker that reads "EMERGENCY DIAL 9-1-1 Fire Police Medical." The front doors bears the seal of the city of Los Angeles, the department slogan "to protect and to serve" as well as the citywide five-digit "shop number" and city department name (POLICE). The last three numbers of the shop number (used to identify all vehicles operated by the city) are reprinted on the roof to help air units visually identify cars. On the trunk is a number that identifies which division the unit belongs to (e.g. a 25 would be "South Traffic Division" or a 3 would be "Southwest Area").

These cars appeared on the NBC television drama Adam-12:

• 1968 and 1969 Plymouth Belvedere
• 1971 Plymouth Satellite
• 1972 AMC Matador

Motorcycles

Kawasaki Police Motorcycles have represented the majority of the motorcycle vehicles in the motor pool with some Harley-Davidson motorcycles and increasingly, BMW motorcycles. Motorcycles are also painted black and white. These motorcycles carry a radio, code-3 equipment, a shotgun and documentation used by a police officer. During rain, motors are garaged, and traffic units patrol the city in sedans.

Helicopters

The department reportedly maintains approximately 26 helicopters dubbed air units, painted silver and blue with a black underside. The letters LAPD appear on the top side of the aircraft in blue, capital letters. Typical air units are AS350 B2 A-Stars by Eurocopter and come with a wide vareity of electronics and equipment that include a 1-million lux "night sun" spot light, optical and infrared binoculars, a LoJack signal receiver, police radio receiver in addition to the built-in aviation radio and then some.

Two officers with at least three years of patrol car service fly in each air unit; they are armed and able to land and make arrests in areas not accessable by other means. They depart from the larger community police stations, such as West Valley division.

Air units are considered crucial to officer safety, providing valuable information with regards to barricaded suspects, suspects fleeing on foot or in a vehicle, violent incidents involving large numbers of individuals, and then some. Air units are almost automatically requested when initiating a traffic stop on a "code 37" vehicle, or suspect with known wants or warrants that are a felony in order to limit the potential for a vehicle putsuit.

Unfortunately, air units are grounded during poor weather (particularly dense fog) due to aviation safety.

Bicycles

Occasionally, "cycle" units go on patrol (usually in large numbers), especially during special events to provide fast and easy access to police assistance. Bicycle units may go on patrols lasting between 10-25 miles during any given beat. Bicycle units train rigorously (mainly in the hills of Elysian Park near Academy Road and Dodgers Stadium). The bicycles used by the Los Angeles Police Department are manufactured by Giant.

Horses

Metro Division, known for its famous Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit, also has an Equestrian Unit that consists of approximately 35 Police Horses. Normally deployed during special events, specially trained officers also wear Jeans as the pants to their uniform along with boots and a Stetson hat with the same Police shield as the one worn on the brim of the traditional police cap. Equestrian Units normally appear in the city only during special occasions. Metro Division is also responsible for the Bomb Squad which uses K-9 units (also under Metro Division), making Metro Division responsible for not only Police Horses, but for Police Dogs (which also wear ballistic vests) as well.

LAPD organization

• LAPD Organizational Chart
• LAPD Citywide-Bureau Map
• Current Command Staff
• Citywide CompStat Statistics

Currently, 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 Division

Note: 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.

Force composition

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. [3]

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 LAPD also hired the first known African American Police Officer in America.

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.

LAPD in the media

Books

• 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

Novels

• 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 [4] featuring Harry Bosch, an iconoclastic LAPD Detective

Motion pictures

LAPD on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

• 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
• Reservoir Dogs, 1992
• Menace II Society, 1993
• Last Action Hero, 1993
• Speed, 1994
• Heat, 1995
• LAPD: To Protect and Serve, 1995
• Virtuosity, 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
• The Black Dahlia, 2006

Television programs

• Dragnet, 1951-1959, 1966-1970, etc.
• Adam-12, 1968-1975
• Columbo, 1968-2003
• Police Woman, 1974-1978
• Hunter, 1984-1991
• Mathnet, 1987-1996
• LAPD: Life On the Beat, 1995-1998
• 24, 2001-present
• Boomtown, 2002-2003
• Fastlane, 2002-2003
• The Shield, 2002-present
• The Closer, 2005-present
• T. J. Hooker, 1983-1987
• Wanted, 2005-present
• Punk'd, 2005¹
• Heroes, 2006

NOTE 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.

Video games

• 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
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, 2005 (Fictionalized "Los Santos" Police, based on LAPD)
• SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate, 2006
• 24: The Game, 2006
• L.A. Noire, 2006

Music

• 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.

• Sublime's song "April 29, 1992 (Miami)" is about the riots.

LAPD Chiefs of Police

Name	Term
Jacob F. Gerkens	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–September 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 [5]
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 [6]
Martin H. Pomeroy	May 7, 2002–October 26, 2002 [7]
William J. Bratton	October 27, 2002–present [8]

See also

• Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
• 1992 Los Angeles riots

References

• Corwin, Miles (1997). The Killing Season . New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-80235-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 0-9727625-5-8.
• 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.

External links

• Official web site
• Official LAPD blog
• LAPD History of the LAPD
• LAPD list of movies and TV programs
• LAPD Recruitment
• LAPD Jobs