The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly known as the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is one of the largest municipal police departments in the country. The city's 2026–27 budget plan provides funding for about 8,555 sworn officers and 2,338 civilian positions.
The LAPD is headquartered at 100 West 1st Street in the Civic Center district. The department divides Los Angeles into 21 geographic patrol areas grouped under four geographic bureaus. Other parts of the LAPD handle investigations, traffic and transit policing, counterterrorism, training, technology, internal affairs, aviation, SWAT, and other specialized work.
Independent commissions, courts, historians, journalists, and government investigations have documented a long history of police brutality, corruption, misconduct, racial discrimination, and problems with accountability within the LAPD. After the Rampart scandal, the United States Department of Justice entered into a federal consent decree with the City of Los Angeles in 2001 over systemic civil-rights and accountability problems. Federal court oversight ended in 2013 after major reforms.
History
The first police force specific to Los Angeles was founded in 1853 as the Los Angeles Rangers, a volunteer force that assisted the existing Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). The Rangers were soon succeeded by another volunteer force, the Los Angeles City Guards. Neither the Rangers nor the Guards were 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. By 1900, under John M. Glass, 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. In 1910, Alice Stebbins Wells became an LAPD policewoman with arrest powers. She is widely described as the first woman in the United States appointed to a municipal police position with full police powers. Georgia Ann Robinson began volunteering with the LAPD in 1916 and was formally appointed a policewoman in 1919, becoming the department's first Black policewoman and one of the earliest Black female police officers in the country.
Severe corruption issues within the LAPD and the rest of the city government lasted until the 1940s. In 1933, the Reserve Unit was formed, tasked with crime suppression; it would later evolve into the Metropolitan Division. In 1946, the top-secret Gangster Squad was formed to combat the American Mafia and Los Angeles crime family. During World War II, under Clemence B. Horrall, the overall number of personnel was depleted by the demands of the military. Despite efforts to maintain numbers, the police could do little to control the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots. Horrall was replaced by retired United States Marine Corps general William A. Worton, who acted as interim chief until 1950, when William H. Parker succeeded him, serving until he died in 1966. Parker advocated police professionalism and autonomy from civilian administration. However, the Bloody Christmas scandal in 1951 led to calls for civilian accountability and an end to alleged police brutality. In 1967, Officer John Nelson proposed a specialized tactical unit to then-Inspector Daryl Gates and the department organized the Metropolitan Division's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) program. The LAPD program became highly influential in the development of police tactical teams in the United States, as well as the Special Investigation Section, a highly-secretive tactical stakeout unit. The Watts riots began in August 1965 after a traffic stop and confrontation involving police. The unrest took place against a background of long-standing complaints about discrimination, poverty, housing, employment, and police treatment in South Los Angeles.
Parker also had a long and difficult relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its director, J. Edgar Hoover. Parker wanted the LAPD to operate with greater independence, while Hoover strongly disliked him and at times limited cooperation with the department. Relations between the LAPD and FBI remained strained for years and were reported to be improving by the early 1990s.
Parker was succeeded by Thomas Reddin, who served as chief from 1967 to 1969. Reddin placed greater emphasis on community relations and tried to make the department more responsive to residents.official website of THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT His successor, Edward M. Davis, continued several community-oriented programs while also emphasizing crime control. When Daryl Gates became chief in 1978, the department again became associated with aggressive tactics, especially its gang and drug enforcement programs. Later accounts of LAPD reform often contrast the Gates period with the department's post-1992 changes.
In the 1970s and 1980s, street gangs became a growing issue in Los Angeles; in response, the LAPD established the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) gang intelligence unit in 1979, conducting Operation Hammer in 1987. In the 1990s, corruption, and misconduct within the LAPD were revealed to the public: the 1991 Rodney King beating led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, while the 1997 Rampart scandal led to the disbandment of CRASH. Also in 1997, outgunned LAPD officers in North Hollywood were locked into a lengthy shootout with heavily armed and armored bank robbers, prompting police armament upgrades across the United States. Throughout its existence, the LAPD absorbed numerous smaller police forces in Greater Los Angeles, including the LACMTA Police in 1997 and the Los Angeles General Services Police in 2012. The LAPD has made several attempts to absorb the Los Angeles Airport Police and Los Angeles Park Ranger Division, though all attempts failed or did not proceed, and no mergers have been made since 2012.
Organization
The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, also known as the Police Commission, is a five-member civilian body that sets policy for and oversees the LAPD. The Chief of Police manages the department and reports to the Commission. As of August 2026, the commissioners are President Rasha Gerges Shields, Vice President Daniel K. Tabor, Fabian Garcia, Jeff K. Skobin, and Heather Aubry.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is an independent oversight office that reports to the Police Commission rather than to the LAPD chain of command. It reviews complaint investigations, discipline, use-of-force cases, and other department practices, and it can conduct audits and special reviews. The current Inspector General is Matthew Barragan, who was appointed in February 2025 and began serving in March 2025.
The LAPD formerly operated an Art Theft Detail that investigated thefts, fraud, forgeries, and other crimes involving art and cultural property. For more than 30 years it was a small specialized unit and recovered nearly $123 million in cultural property after 1993. The LAPD now states that the Art Theft Detail has been discontinued as an investigative specialty. Detective Don Hrycyk was for many years the best-known member of the unit and was described in 2014 as the only known full-time municipal art detective in the United States.Alma Fausto, LAPD's lone art cop draws on plenty of experience, Orange County Register.Sarah Cascone, Meet Don Hrycyk, the LAPD's Veteran Art Detective, ArtNet News (September 18, 2014).
The LAPD Cadet Program grew out of the department's former Explorer Program. In 2009, the Police Commission ended the program's formal relationship with the Boy Scouts of America amid disputes over Boy Scouts membership and leadership rules. The newer program broadened its focus beyond preparing teenagers for police careers. It emphasizes leadership, school performance, citizenship, life skills, tutoring, scholarships, and community service. Cadets take part in ride-alongs, community events, charity work, crowd-management support, and station activities. The program has posts at the LAPD's geographic areas and at several specialized locations. Its membership has changed substantially over time: LAPD publicity reported more than 7,000 cadets in 2016, while a later department page reported about 2,000 in 2020.
Office of the Chief The Office of the Chief of Police coordinates the department's senior leadership and supports the Chief in managing policy, communications, personnel issues, and major departmental priorities. Jim McDonnell became the LAPD's 59th Chief of Police in November 2024.
The department's senior structure was reorganized again in 2025. Dominic Choi, who served as interim chief during 2024, is now First Assistant Chief and Chief of Staff. The department also has directors for the Office of Operations, Office of Special Operations, and Office of Support Services, as well as a separate Constitutional Policing and Policy Bureau.
Office of Operations
The Office of Operations oversees the department's 21 geographic patrol areas and most uniformed field operations. Since 2025 it has been directed by Assistant Chief Emada Tingirides. The 21 areas are grouped into four geographic bureaus: Central, South, Valley, and West.
The current geographic areas are Central, Rampart, Hollenbeck, Northeast, Newton, 77th Street, Southwest, Harbor, Southeast, Hollywood, Wilshire, West Los Angeles, Pacific, Olympic, Van Nuys, West Valley, North Hollywood, Foothill, Devonshire, Mission, and Topanga. Olympic and Topanga opened in January 2009 and remain the two newest geographic areas.
The Office of Operations also oversees the Community Safety Partnership Bureau and coordinates programs dealing with homelessness, youth engagement, and neighborhood policing.
Office of Special Operations The Office of Special Operations is directed by Assistant Chief Michael Rimkunas. It includes the Detective Bureau, Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau, Transit Services Bureau, and Major Events Group. These commands oversee major investigations, specialized tactical resources, counterterrorism, transit policing, and planning for large events.
The Detective Bureau includes units that investigate homicide, robbery, gangs, narcotics, financial crimes, juvenile cases, and other serious offenses. The Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau includes or coordinates specialized resources such as the Metropolitan Division, SWAT, Air Support Division, Bomb Squad, K-9 units, and other emergency capabilities.
The department has long used CompStat and related crime-analysis systems to review crime patterns and deployment. Former Chief William Bratton brought a version of CompStat to Los Angeles after using the system while he was New York City Police Commissioner.
Office of Support Services The Office of Support Services is directed by Assistant Chief Timothy "Scott" Harrelson. Its bureaus and groups cover training, administrative services, information technology, professional standards, personnel, communications, records, custody operations, fleet management, and other functions needed to support field and investigative work.
Constitutional Policing and Policy Bureau The Constitutional Policing and Policy Bureau is led by civilian Director Brian G. Maxey. The bureau replaced the former Office of Constitutional Policing and Policy during an August 2025 reorganization. It oversees policy development, audits, legal and risk-management work, strategic planning, and other programs connected with constitutional policing and accountability.
Headquarters
Before 2009, LAPD headquarters was located at Parker Center, named after former chief William H. Parker, which stood at 150 N. Los Angeles St. in the Downtown Los Angeles Civic Center district. It was demolished in 2019.