Massachusetts Cop Forum banner

Los Angeles Police Department

88K views 406 replies 70 participants last post by  LA Copper 
#1 ·
A few folks have PM'ed me over the last year or so asking about the LAPD. For the last two or three years we had the expedited testing process on hold due to budget cuts. This process allowed you to travel out here and complete all the tests in one, maybe two trips, which is how I did it back in 1988. If you decide to do it, I could help you.

The process has returned and we are now doing it again. We are always hiring and nowadays have about seven or eight academy classes a year. (It used to be one a month but due to budget cuts we've cut them back.) If anyone's interested, the following websites are helpful: joinlapd.com and lapdonline.org

While you guys are freezing back there with snow and rain, it's been in the mid 70s out here. And if you like the snow, it's only an hour's drive up north. In the summer, there's no humidity and no mosquitoes either. Even if you come out here, stay on the job for a few years, receive top quality training and then go back home, at least you've got that experience behind you. It's something to think about for those of you who have been waiting for years to get on the job back there. I've been on the job out here for 25 years and I still love it, that should say something I would think. Just thought I'd put it out there.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask here or PM me. Good luck.
 
See less See more
#3 ·
Thank you niteowl,

I tried for several years to get on the job back there without making it and I'm a loyal Red Sox / Patriots fan so I'm still a Bostonian at heart. I just thought I'd put this out there for the folks who ended up like me.... trying to get hired back there for a long time without success.

I would've preferred to get on the job back there because it's home but now that I'm here in LA, I'm very happy to be here on this department. When I retire I'll be coming back there because it's home and my family is all back there.

Plus I'll be able to make all the Meet and Greets and not just ones that happen to fall on my vacation!
 
#4 ·
Thank you niteowl,

I tried for several years to get on the job back there without making it and I'm a loyal Red Sox / Patriots fan so I'm still a Bostonian at heart. I just thought I'd put this out there for the folks who ended up like me.... trying to get hired back there for a long time without success.

I would've preferred to get on the job back there because it's home but now that I'm here in LA, I'm very happy to be here on this department. When I retire I'll be coming back there because it's home and my family is all back there.

Plus I'll be able to make all the Meet and Greets and not just ones that happen to fall on my vacation!
The only bad thing about coming back here is learning how to drive in the snow again! It took me a little while :)
 
#7 ·
A few things about the department for those of you who are interested:

- 10,000 sworn officers
- Full time dedicated SWAT team with about 70 members
- 18 helicopters in Air Support Division, the biggest in the country
- Mounted Unit
- K-9s which include: suspects, bombs, narcotics, guns, all of which are different dogs
- Full time dedicated Bomb Squad
- Gang units / Narcotics units
- MS-13, 18th Street, Bloods, Crips, and lots of other gangs
- Anti-Terrorism units
- Motors
- Crime suppression platoons
- Specialized detectives and table detectives
- Hazardous Materials unit
- Task forces with FBI, DEA, ATF
- City of LA is 465 square miles, pretty darn big
- Our own six-month academy
- You don't have to work dispatch, they are all civilians
- Shotguns, Tasers, Beanbag shotguns, M-16 rifles
- 21 different patrol divisions / 4 different traffic divisions
- plainclothes and undercover assignments
- 3/12 or 4/10 work schedules
- You get to pick your own days off, no 4 and 2. What's better than picking your own days off?
- Great year-round weather, which makes for year round work
- Lots of other stuff that escapes me at the moment

I have lots of pictures if anyone wants to see stuff. Unfortunately I'm not computer savvy or I'd put them on here.
 
#8 ·
LA Copper sent me a few pictures to add to the thread:

Vehicle Aircraft Helicopter rotor Motor vehicle Helicopter

Sky Aircraft Helicopter Military helicopter Rotorcraft
Vehicle Motor vehicle Automotive lighting Automotive tire Sky
 

Attachments

#10 ·
Since you are giving out information, and I do appreciate it...I was curious if you think you will ever see a hiring freeze in this department? I am in the process of being hired as a reserve officer in a town in MA, and was thinking about doing that for a year or two, and then apply to bigger departments when I turn 25. Just so I could get some experience in/test the waters before jumping into a large dept.

Also, if you know, what is the average age of a new recruit?
 
#15 ·
Since you are giving out information, and I do appreciate it...I was curious if you think you will ever see a hiring freeze in this department? I am in the process of being hired as a reserve officer in a town in MA, and was thinking about doing that for a year or two, and then apply to bigger departments when I turn 25. Just so I could get some experience in/test the waters before jumping into a large dept.

Also, if you know, what is the average age of a new recruit?
Anything's possible regarding hiring freezes, especially with the way the economy has been the last few years. Our average recruit age is about 25 years-old.

As for being a reserve, that may help you back there because of the slow rate of hire as niteowl mentioned. Any leg up on the next guy could be a help in any department.

I can only speak for the LAPD; you don't need to be a reserve to be hired by us although it certainly can't hurt unless you get yourself into some type of trouble while on the job.

For the LAPD there is no Civil Service test given once every two years like it is back there. The written test out here is given five times a week and it's free. The written test just gets you to the next phase of the testing process. You have to pass each phase to go onto the next. It's not like back there where pretty much everything is based off the written Civil Service test score.

It's a big jump, moving 3000 miles across the country. Being a reserve in a town in Mass and being a full time officer in a department that averages about 75 officer involved shootings and over 300 homicides a year is certainly very different. If you don't think you're ready then don't come out here just yet, wait until you are ready. PM me if you want and if you have specific questions.

And by the way, it was 80 degrees today. :)
 
#13 ·
I can't answer that. I will say that at my work (State University PD) I've seen the biggest employment success for our student security officers have come from graduates that had attended the R/I academy and worked as summer cops in Maine or the cape. They were also willing to leave Massachusetts to find employment. Some of them have gone to agencies like the Maine and New Hampshire State Police, Chesterfield County Virginia Police, Washington D.C. Police and the Atlanta Police Department as well as federal agencies like The U.S. Border Patrol. Individual results may vary.

This state hires at a very slow rate and the process from several months to several years as the 80th RTT graduates know first hand.
 
#17 ·
Understood, however, unless you're talking about being a reserve in a place like Boston, Brockton, Springfield, Worcester, or any other major city back there, keep in mind that experiencing the job in a local town back there is not really like it is in a big city like Los Angeles. Think Roxbury/Mattapan on steroids and you'll have a basic idea what it's like out here.

Also, if you do the reserve thing back there, you'd have to be retrained out here because we do things a lot differently, especially when it comes to tactical situations. That means you'd still have to go to our full academy. Good luck and let me know if you have questions in the future.
 
#23 ·
I think lots of us have played that waiting game, probably because it's home and many of us don't want to leave home, which is quite understandable. I took two Civil Service tests and scored a 99 on both but was not hired. I took one State Police test and passed but not high enough to move on in the process. It was at that point I decided to move on and came out here to LA. I had just turned 26 when I started our academy.

It's up to the individual whether or not to make the move, after all it's not like we're right next door so it is a big step. We do have a lot of fellow Bostonians on the job out here so others have made the choice. If nothing else, come on out for a look and see for yourself. Just another option, as is Florida where PBL Cop went.
 
#26 ·
If you were my friend or relative I would say go out there take the test and make the jump now. What happens to some people is they wait around here too long, end up getting married with house and kids and then you can forget about moving. I know plenty of good people that had this exact situation and were stuck praying for a job in MA because they couldn't move. It worked out for 2 people that I know but it did not work out for many more. And to anyone else reading this thread or any other getting on the job thread, Stay single and without kids if possible, you must be able to relocate unless you want to pray to the civil service gods until you age out.
I know I don't post a lot here but I thought I'd share. A family friend who was a San Diego cop tried to give this same advise when I was in my early 20's, of course being at the top of the list on the civil service test I thought "Nah I'll be good to go." Well fast forward through 4 more tests and not getting on due to politics, budget cuts, laterals, dying on lists that never got pulled I was able to land a campus gig and a reserve job in a non civil service town where I still get dicked over for full time because of Golden Children and not being one of the "In crowd" despite a good working relationship. Now I'm pushing 40, I'm cynical as a bastard, got the house, the marriage and looking at Florida because I got certified to work down there. It's been a hard sell but hopefully later this spring I'll be processing with a couple of places. My advise..."DON'T WAIT TOO LONG!. Jet Blue has some affordable tickets from time to time.
 
#29 ·
maybe it was a "photoshop" picture, but not long after the North Hollywood shootout there was a picture on the net with LAPD motor units and looked like they had small machine guns.
I've never seen that. If you could find it again I'd like to see it. I do know that the only people authorized to carry MP-5s on our job are SWAT guys. We didn't start carrying the M-16s on some of our motors until recently. We've been carrying shotguns on motors for about 10 or 12 years now.
 
#30 ·
I've never seen that. If you could find it again I'd like to see it. I do know that the only people authorized to carry MP-5s on our job are SWAT guys. We didn't start carrying the M-16s on some of our motors until recently. We've been carrying shotguns on motors for about 10 or 12 years now.
I probably saw it on this site. May have been another PD..........................?

did find a couple of good looking ladies :)
 
#34 ·
The vast majority of the significant violent crime happens at night. The dark uniform blends in with the darkness and is also more "tactical." This is also why the bright lime green jackets you guys wear back there would never fly out here (except for your traffic details of course). We have a hard enough time trying to get our traffic officers to wear their brightly colored vests at the scene of traffic accidents. The fact that we average about 75 officer involved shootings a year and are ambushed on occasion would have something to do with that.
 
#37 ·
And that 75 doesn't include the number of times we are fired on but for one reason or another, aren't able to fire back. When I first came on the job we used to average 150 OIS'.

We do the job here because we (at least most of us) really enjoy the job of being a police officer and for multiple reasons, Los Angeles is an exciting place to do it. The silent majority who like and need us far outweigh the vocal minority who don't.
 
#42 ·
A few things about the department for those of you who are interested:

- 10,000 sworn officers (I recall an early episode of "Dragnet" where Jack Webb mentions there are about 2000. Nice to know it's grown to a reasonable number.)
- Full time dedicated SWAT team with about 70 members
- 18 helicopters in Air Support Division, the biggest in the country (Boston only has one or two and oddly enough, with each movie and TV show, they look different.)
- Mounted Unit
- K-9s which include: suspects, bombs, narcotics, guns, all of which are different dogs
- Full time dedicated Bomb Squad
- Gang units / Narcotics units
- MS-13, 18th Street, Bloods, Crips, and lots of other gangs (This is a BENEFIT? Are these the Fraternal Organizations you have the choice of joining?)
- Anti-Terrorism units
- Motors (I would hope so, otherwise you gotta FRED FLINTSTONE the car.)
- Crime suppression platoons (PLATOONS? What do all the rest of the cops do who AREN'T in Crime Suppression?)
- Specialized detectives and table detectives (Detecting tables ISN'T considered a specialty?)
- Hazardous Materials unit
- Task forces with FBI, DEA, ATF
- City of LA is 465 square miles, pretty darn big
- Our own six-month academy
- You don't have to work dispatch, they are all civilians
- Shotguns, Tasers, Beanbag shotguns, M-16 rifles
- 21 different patrol divisions / 4 different traffic divisions
- plainclothes and undercover assignments
- 3/12 or 4/10 work schedules
- You get to pick your own days off, no 4 and 2. What's better than picking your own days off?
- Great year-round weather, which makes for year round work
- Lots of other stuff that escapes me at the moment

I have lots of pictures if anyone wants to see stuff. Unfortunately I'm not computer savvy or I'd put them on here.

ACTUALLY, SOME VERY GOOD INFO HERE. I hope you realize I'm just screwing around and I honestly back up nightowl1970 in his comments!
 
  • Like
Reactions: BxDetSgt
Top