Understanding the Structure of LAPD

It is important to understand the structure of the Los Angeles Police Department if you wish to grasp how local policing is done.

Oversight of the Department is the mandate of a five member Police Commission, non-paid community volunteers appointed by the Mayor.

But LAPD itself uses a military model with a powerful command structure, and virtually all administrative and policy decisions are made at Parker Center, LAPD headquarters.

Subordinate officers work either in special groups, or in one of four large regional Bureaus. Within each of these Bureaus are several Divisions, each with a Community Police Station, home of your neighborhood's officers.

There are a total of 18 Divisions throughout the City of Los Angeles.

Community Policing Locally

To be effective in community policing, you will first need to determine which Division serves your part of town.

In addition, each Division is subdivided into several smaller geographic portions called Basic Car Areas, so that every neighborhood throughout the city has its own patrol unit.

You'll want to find out from the Division you belong to both the name and the cell phone number of your Senior Lead Officer (SLO), because he or she is the officer who supervises your neighborhood's Basic Car.

The SLO is often the main liaison for problem solving between the Department and the local community. The concept of the Senior Lead Officer program, and how the Basic Car works, is discussed at length later in this site.

But for now, here is a list of the LAPD Bureaus and their respective Divisions. To determine which Division (local police station) serves your area find the closest address. Then give them a call to check: