| Burbank Police Department | |
| Patch of the Burbank Police Department. | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | City of Burbank in the state of California, United States |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Burbank Police Department is the police department serving Burbank, California.
Scott LaChasse became the Police Chief of the department on Jan. 1, 2010. The previous chiefs were Tim Stehr, Thomas Hoefel, David Newsham and Glen Bell.
The command structure of the Burbank Police Department includes the following:
T. Angel, Deputy Chief;
M. Albanese, Captain;
D. Cremins, Captain
Contents |
Burbank Police yields jurisdiction within the city limits of Burbank, California. The Bob Hope Airport is served by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority Police, which is independent of the Burbank Police Department.
The Air Support unit covers the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena.
The most notable fallen member is Officer Matthew Pavelka, who became the first Burbank Police officer to be killed in the line of duty in 83 years. He was on the job for only six months, and was on patrol by himself for only four months. On the evening of November 15, 2003, Officer Pavelka was fatally shot while assisting Officer Gregory Campbell in a field investigation of a suspicious vehicle. The incident began when Officer Gregory Campbell contacted two occupants of a parked Cadillac Escalade in the parking lot of a Ramada Inn. The vehicle did not have license plates and was in an area known for narcotics and gang activity. He called for backup and Officer Pavelka arrived. When both officers approached the vehicle ordering the driver and passenger out of the vehicle, they opened fire on the officers. Both officers were wounded and were taken to the hospital, where Officer Pavelka died while in surgery. The driver was shot and killed while the passenger fled the scene. The passenger, David Garcia, was captured in Mexico two weeks later and Garcia was extradited back to the United States since he was a U.S. citizen and the U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty didn't apply. He faces the death penalty if convicted of first degree murder.
Memorial services took place at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills and many officers from numerous jurisdictions attended the service. The Burbank Police Department was closed for the day and some nearby cities contributed officers to the city of Burbank to replace the Burbank Police officers.