Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is a municipal law enforcement that serves the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, California. It also serves the incorporated cities and towns within the county who have contracted with the agency for law-enforcement services (known as "contract cities" in local jargon). The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is sometimes referred as as the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office (LASO).
The LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States with over 16,000 employees. Leroy D. Baca is the current sheriff.
LASD deputies provided law enforcement services to 2,557,754 residents in an area of 3,171 square miles both in the unincorporated County land and within the contract cities (1995 figure).
The Sheriff's Department also operates one the largest jail systems which provides short-term incarceration services for all of the County (including the cities like Los Angeles which have their own police departments). The Men's Central Jail (MCJ) and Twin Towers Correctional Facility (TTCF) are located in a dense cluster northeast of Union Station that is next to the station's rail yard. The North County Correctional Facility (NCCF) is the largest of the four jail facilities locacted at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, California.
Some of the newer contract cities like Santa Clarita and West Hollywood have never had police departments. When their city governments were founded, they took over what was formerly unincorporated land, but then contracted their police responsibilities right back to the county sheriff. Since the sheriff already had substations in those areas anyway, the result was to maintain the status quo.
In contrast, Compton, California, used to have a police department, but in 2000 the city council voted to dismantle the police department and become a contract city. Compton has been at times notorious for gang violence.
In the late 1990's the LASD successfully designed a county wide sound recorder/meter system to detect loud noises and relay that info with GPS tracking to computers at both Communications and Deputies' vehicles. Towers are methodically located in area's of the county that on a 24-7 basis seek out sounds that could be relevant to crimes and has a 97% success rate of accurately sorting gunshots vs fireworks and things like loud pets. "The History Channel"[citation needed] When dispatch has a call from a citizen reporting possible gunfire near their residence, these sound towers can pinpoint within about 25 to 30 feet where the shots were coming from and record the sound for investigative purposes, and at the same time, relay the GPS info to HQ and deputies on the street. The system is up and running and has already been responsible for the arrest of a felony shooting suspect.
Currently the LASD is working with the Federal Aeronautics Administration and local government officials to deploy their remote control aerial surveillance drone system. This would allow the Sheriff's Department to have real time imagery from the streets of Los Angeles to combat street violence and record crimes in progress, not mention searching for missing hikers, "patrolling" behind the surf zones of the beaches and looking for lost children. The drones are not intended to replace police helicopters, but in specific incidents could be of better and cheaper to use.
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[edit] Contract Law Enforcement by LASD
[edit] Cities
LASD has entered into contracts with the below cities to serve as their police department/law enforcement agency.
| City | Served by |
|---|---|
| Acton | Palmdale Station |
| Artesia | Lakewood Station |
| Avalon (Catalina Island) | Avalon Station |
| Bellflower | Lakewood Station |
| Bradbury | Temple Station |
| Calabasas | Lost Hills Station |
| Carson | Carson Station |
| Cerritos | Cerritos Station |
| Commerce | East Los Angeles Station |
| Compton | Compton Station |
| Diamond Bar | Walnut / Diamond Bar Station |
| Duarte | Temple Station |
| Hawaiian Gardens | Lakewood Station |
| Hidden Hills | Malibu/Lost Hills Station |
| City of Industry | Industry Station |
| La Canada Flintridge | Altadena Station |
| La Habra Heights | Industry Station |
| Lakewood | Lakewood Station |
| La Mirada | Norwalk Station |
| Lancaster | Lancaster Station |
| La Puente | Industry Station |
| Lawndale | Lennox Station/Lawndale Sheriff's Department Service Center |
| Lomita | Lomita Station |
| Lynwood | Century Station |
| Malibu | Malibu/Lost Hills Station |
| Norwalk | Norwalk Station |
| Palmdale | Palmdale Station |
| Paramount | Lakewood Station |
| Pico Rivera | Pico Rivera Station |
| Rancho Palos Verdes | Lomita Station |
| Rolling Hills | Lomita Station |
| Rolling Hills Estates | Lomita Station |
| Rosemead | Temple Station |
| San Dimas | San Dimas Station |
| Santa Clarita | Santa Clarita Station |
| South El Monte | Temple Station |
| Temple City | Temple Station |
| Walnut | Walnut/Diamond Bar Station |
| West Hollywood | West Hollywood Station |
| Westlake Village | Malibu/Lost Hills Station |
Santa Fe Springs was a contract city served by the LASD-Norwalk Station until the 1990s. It now contracts with Whittier Police Department.
[edit] Agencies that Contract with LASD for Law Enforcement Services
[edit] Transit Services Bureau
- Metrolink
- Los Angeles MTA Blue Line/Green Line/Red Line and Buses
[edit] Community Colleges Services Bureau
[edit] Court Services Division
- Prisoner Transport Services with 31 of the 58 counties in California
- Los Angeles County Marshal/Municipal Courts (Merged into LASD Court Services)
[edit] Contract Custody Services
- California Department of Corrections (Housing Parole Violators)
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Detention of Illegal Aliens arrested by ICE at the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster)[1]
[edit] Television shows based on LASD
In the late 1950's, a short lived "Dragnet (drama)"-style television series, "Code 3", aired based on real cases (though names and locations were changed) from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The late Eugene Biscailuz, then Sheriff of Los Angeles County, was featured in a cameo tag line at the end of every episode.
The department's Emergency Services Detail (ESD) which functions under the unbrella of the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) was depicted in the short lived television series, 240-Robert. The SEB also includes the Canine Services Detail (K-9), and the Special Enforcement Detail (SED) which is the department's special weapons team.
In September 2003, ABC premiered 10-8: Officers on Duty a prime time drama (with a light comedy twist) based on a rookie with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. The show lasted one season. The show's name was based on the police radio code for "on duty".
