The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-largest municipal police department in the United States, after the New York City Police Department and the Chicago Police Department.
Daryl Francis Gates was an American police officer who served as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1978 to 1992. His length of tenure in this position was second only to that of William H. Parker. Gates is credited with the creation of SWAT teams alongside fellow Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer John Nelson, who others claim was the originator of SWAT in 1965. Gates also co-founded the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
The Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips is a "set" of the Crips street gang alliance based in Los Angeles, California, originally formed around Hyde Park, Los Angeles in 1976 from the Westside Crips and having since spread to other cities in the United States. Membership is estimated to be around 1,600 people, making it one of the largest gangs in the Los Angeles area.
Jacob Frederick Gerkens was a German-American member of the Los Angeles City Council and the first police chief of that city after the abolition of the office of city marshal. He served for a little more than a year, from December 18, 1876 to December 26, 1877.
The Pasadena Police Department is the police department serving Pasadena, California. The headquarters of the Pasadena Police Department is located at 207 North Garfield Avenue in Pasadena, just a block from the Pasadena City Hall and Paseo Colorado. The department employs 241 sworn officers, 13 reserve officers, and 126 civilian employees. Police chief John Perez, who spent his entire career with the department, retired and was replaced by former PPD Commander, now interim Chief Jason Clawson. The city has selected former San Gabriel Police Department Chief Eugene Harris to take the position in January 2023.
Crime in Los Angeles has varied throughout time, reaching peaks between the 1970s and 1990s. Since the early 2020s, crime has increased in Los Angeles.
The Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department is the head and senior-most officer to serve in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The incumbent manages the day-to-day operations of the LAPD and is usually held a four star officer.
George Gascón is an American attorney and former police officer who is the exiting district attorney of Los Angeles County. A member of the Democratic Party and a former member of the Republican Party, Gascón served as the district attorney of San Francisco from 2011 to 2019. Prior to his work as a prosecutor, he was an assistant chief of police for the LAPD, and Chief of Police in Mesa, Arizona and San Francisco.
Brenda Allen was an American madam based in Los Angeles, California, whose arrest in 1948 triggered a scandal that led to the attempted reform of the Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D.). Allen received police protection due to her relationship with Sergeant Elmer V. Jackson of the L.A.P.D.'s administrative vice squad, who reportedly was her lover.
Michel Rey Moore is a retired American law enforcement officer who served as the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) from 2018 until 2024.
Charles E. Elton (1855–1916) was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for four years, four months, and five days, which was a comparatively long stint in the first 50 years of the department.
William "Billy" A. Hammel was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for one year, six months, and 26 days in 1904–1905. He was a retired Sheriff of Los Angeles County when he was hired to replace Charles Elton. Under Hammel, the LAPD used police automobiles for the first time. He also added a third local police station, following up Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights divisions with a new building on Jefferson Blvd.
Thomas A. Broadhead was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for three months in 1909. Broadhead joined the LAPD around 1887, and he had previously been a member of the vice squad. He had been appointed by mayor Arthur C. Harper, and when Harper resigned due to a scandal and was replaced by mayor George Alexander, Broadhead was dismissed as chief and replaced with Edward F. Dishman. Captain Broadhead was indicted on bribery charges a week later, and acquitted in September 1909. After leaving the department, Broadhead went to work as a special agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad until 1924.
Edward F. Dishman was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for ten months and 11 days in 1909–1910. He had previously been a Los Angeles Times reporter on the police-department beat. Confounded by the police commission and city administration in his efforts to hire more officers or increase stagnant salaries, he was dismissed in short order by the police commission for non-performance in reforming the police department. After leaving the police department he worked for the post office, and then had a long career as an examiner for the California State Corporation Commission, investigating fraudulent stock offerings.
Clarence E. "Clare" Snively was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for one year, three months, and eight days in 1915. He is considered one of the "lesser-known" LAPD chiefs of the 20th century. He created an anti-nicotine clinic through the department, believing it to be a noxious substance that "weakened" bodies. He also worked as a reporter for several newspapers and as a federal probation officer for a large region of Southern California.
John L. Butler was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for two years, eight months, and 20 days in the 1910s. Butler created a "War Squad" to deal with potential espionage and subversion amidst the U.S. participation in World War I. Overall, Butler served in the LAPD for 20 years, from 1901 to 1921.
George K. Home was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for one year, two months, and 23 days from 1919 to 1920. Home's administration coincided with the beginning of Prohibition and the coattendant increase in smuggling and associated crime. He is best remembered for hiring Harry J. Raymond and Herbert "Brute" Kittle, both of whom were charged with multiple crimes of their own, which reduced their effectiveness as law enforcement officers. Home later became "chief narcotic enforcement officer" for the state of California.
Alexander W. Murray served in the LAPD for 30 years, the latter of half of which was in various positions of department leadership, including captain, police inspector, and on multiple occasions, acting chief of police.
Lyle Pendegast was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for eight months and three days in the early 1920s. Pendegast was an attorney by profession who had served as executive secretary to the preceding four chiefs of police.
Charles A. Jones was chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department for five months and 28 days in the early 1920s. A career policeman who had worked his way through the ranks for 20 years, Jones was promoted to chief from within the department. Apparently pestered to distraction by public advocates, Jones announced his resignation with the statement, "No one can run the Los Angeles Police Department. There are too many meddlesome so-called reformers and others who interfere. The job isn't worth the grief that attends it."
