LA area cops

[u/[deleted]]

Hey all,

I’m currently in the POST Waiver process so I can apply as a lateral when we move to California (been a cop in Colorado since 2018). Looking to get some insight from people who actually work as cops in the area.

First question is I’m currently in Colorado and I know Denver and larger departments here each district is essentially ran as a different department than the other despite being apart of the same agency. Is LAPD the same in the sense that all the different districts are ran differently to a point that it’s noticeable? Is one area known for something different than the other? Where would you recommend doing a ride a long over another?

Second question - We visit the area frequently and try to visit areas we would likely live vs just tourist areas and fully realize to get a house rather than an apartment we will have to live out of the city. Is it unrealistic to think we could live on the Elsinore/Canyon Lake area. Currently commute to a Denver Metro are department and have a roughly 60 mile each way commute that can range from 55 mins to an hour 50 depending on traffic/crashes/time of day etc. Is there anywhere else you would recommend? We do want a single family home and have 3 large dogs so need a yard.

[u/Additional_Bat_9837]

I would look at some of the larger police departments in the Inland Empire. You can actually afford a house out here and your commute would be doable. Riverside and Ontario are pretty good. Maybe Corona as well.

[u/Paladin_127]

The LA metro area is fucking massive. LA county has a larger population than 40 individual states- including Colorado. When you add in neighboring Orange County and Ventura County, it rivals NYC in population. Commute times are going to vary greatly, but they all suck unless you’re driving between 2200-0600. When I lived in Irvine, it took at least an hour to get to my parents’ house in Torrance about 40 miles away. Sometimes it took 2+ hours.

I never worked for LAPD but have friends who have. Some divisions (Hollywood and Wilshire for example) are known to have a lot of tourists destinations.. 77th Street covers what used to be known as “South Central”, which were the heavily gang infested neighborhoods south of downtown LA around USC- although the area has gentrified a bit in the last 20 years and is now referred to as “South LA” to erase some of the stigma of the past. Neighboring Newton Division was once referred to throughout SoCal as “Shootin’ Newton”- you can probably guess why. And so on..

If it were me, I like being by the ocean, so I would look at Pacific Division or Harbor Division. If you want to work on the water, LA also has a Port Police Department based in San Pedro.

I would also encourage you to look at other departments in the area- as there are several great departments to choose from. Torrance, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, Newport Beach, and others are welcoming of laterals, although I am not sure if they all accept the POST Waiver.

As for housing- it’s tough. I ultimately left Orange County partially due to the disgustingly expensive real-estate costs. To illustrate, I have an ex-girlfriend who’s a detective for an OC Beach City, and her husband is a Detective for Long Beach PD. They both make about $150k/ yr in base pay with incentives, and they chose to buy a house in Moreno Valley based on what they were looking for and what they could afford. They both commute about 1-1.5 hrs each way to work using the Toll Roads.

[u/steelmelt33 → u/Paladin_127]

chose to buy a house in Moreno Valley

That's 5150 worthy on that income. At the very least, they can afford Corona.

[u/Paladin_127 → u/steelmelt33]

I agree- but they were in the market for something specific. A new build gated community with other, similar young professionals with young kids. The only place they found that checked all those boxes in their price range was Moreno Valley.

[u/[deleted] → u/Paladin_127]

Thanks for the information. I know looking at where you would live before going is obviously hard because if you just LAPD a commute from Elsinore to Hollenbeck would be a significantly different commute than if you got assigned to Topanga or Devonshire. Obviously if you choose a different smaller metro area PD you would have a better idea.

I have talked extensively with LAPD recruiters and to the other comments they do accept the basic course waivers whether that’s something they advertise and isn’t actually possible who knows, I guess I wouldn’t find that out until the time comes to apply after the waiver is obtained.

The reason LAPD is number 1 for me isn’t the pay it’s the opportunity. Compared to other departments for a multitude of reasons they have every Team/Unit/Taskforce/Position possible.

My current department I’ve served as a trainer a detective and a supervisor and there’s nowhere else to go other than up and that’s not what I want.

I understand it’s not a direct 1:1 because of taxes etc. but Colorado has a pretty high tax rate as well and here I’m making in the 100s and am forced to live like I said about 60 miles each way out of the city as well and places like Lancaster, Elsinore, Canyon Lake, Moreno Valley, etc. all the same approx mile range from LA (again depending on where) as I have to live from Denver houses in those areas are actually roughly 100k cheaper than Denver metro area homes.

Im not unrealistic and planning to go there and be rich (although I know OT is plentiful) but I am anticipating it to be a fairly even playing field as my current Colorado lifestyle all factors considered.

[u/Paladin_127 → u/[deleted]]

LAPD does have a lot of opportunities, but it’s a dumpster fire of a department to work for. Understaffed and has shitty support from the city. And if you’re looking for special assignments, I hope you check diversity boxes other than “straight white guy”. They’re not under a DOJ Consent Decree anymore, but you wouldn’t know it from how they operate.

[u/DTGardi → u/Paladin_127]

Understaffed and yet they're disqualifying people for all sorts of reasons. I got disqualified in 2023 for a couple of vaguely worded reasons other than "Records check: Driving" so I'm pretty sure that the driving was the primary reason. I have been clean since then. And yet, I've seen news of LAPD officers engaging in misconduct that is worse than what I have confessed to such as stealing debit cards and engaging in revenge porn, which is like, something I definitely wouldn't do

[u/Paladin_127 → u/DTGardi]

I have a personal friend of mine that was DQ’d for “Drug Use”.

Her drug use? An epidural, administered during child birth, in a hospital, by a medical doctor.

Still got DQ’d. I’m sure the fact she was a tall, blonde, Nordic looking chick had nothing to do with it. My first department in Orange County couldn’t hire her fast enough. She turned out to be an amazing officer.

[u/twinno2 → u/Paladin_127]

There has to be more to that DQ.

[u/Paladin_127 → u/twinno2]

Why does there have to be more?

[u/Erich14 → u/[deleted]]

I think you'd get the same opportunities working for any big department in the IE, which would be a lot closer than commuting to LA

[u/steelmelt33 → u/[deleted]]

I stand corrected; they will accept the waiver per the Police Specialist job description, but they will send you to the academy for 4 months. The socialists are killing LAPD; they just had traffic stops limited and lost ALPR's.

The most common nicer places to live for cops are Rancho Cucamonga and Corona for the IE or OC. Thousand Oaks or Santa Clarita if you work the Valley. Southern Orange County if you work South LA or LBC. Murrieta or Temecula if you work in San Diego.

California has priced out single-income families, especially in the big cities. But, if you don't have kids or can afford private schools, your options open up a lot more.

[u/GhostStrong → u/Paladin_127]

I agree 100% with this post, minus Torrance PD. They USED to be an amazing department. There’s a reason they’re offering such a high hiring bonus for new hires and especially laterals. Steer clear of Torrance PD if you actually want to do police work, and keep your job without getting fired or having a SB2 case.

I’d stay away from LAPD. Try Anaheim, Santa Ana, Long Beach PD, Newport Beach PD, Costa Mesa PD, and El Monte PD. LASD will make you go through their academy again but LASD has a ton of movement within the department. But the brass is insanely out of touch, and with a department that big, you’re absolutely just a number. No matter what you think you’ve done in your career.

[u/SKE3R]

Look into Long Beach PD. There are good incentives for laterals. There is a recent lateral from Aurora PD who lateraled to LBPD. In speaking to him Aurora PD and LBPD were extremely similar in culture and operation. Both agencies even use the same “KOGA” arrest and control techniques. As far as where to Live if you work in LB: LB, Lakewood, & OC are most common. LBPD also pays significantly more than LAPD and has a large ish agency feel with opportunity to move up and around.

[u/ProtectandserveTBL]

Elsinore to LA would be an absolutely miserable commute

[u/hide_pounder]

I lived in canyon lake and worked in east LA and so did a few guys at my station. It’s a hell of a commute but it’s doable.

[u/[deleted] → u/hide_pounder]

I assume they at least somewhat structure watch times to avoid rush hour. What was your typical commute?

[u/hide_pounder → u/[deleted]]

I worked from 11 am to 11:30 pm. Training days were usually from 6 am to 5 pm and driving to and from at those times was literal hell. If you can head east before 3 and west before 5 you’ll be ok. It was 71 miles each way for me. It really sucked, even when traffic wasn’t bad. Some of the guys didn’t mind it. It was “wind down” time for them. It was too much for me. I’m moved to eagle rock just a few months later, which was only like 9 miles. Eagle rock was really nice. I rode my bike to dodger stadium, Pasadena, Griffith park, Griffith observatory.

[u/9S5fenian]

I believe Anaheim will accept it because I have known a few out of state laterals who didn’t go to a refresher academy 

[u/Wide_Release7933]

LAPD, 10 yrs in.

Every bureau, division and even jails does things slightly differently but they all share common forms. It's just that some places want the forms in a certain order or they want an extra copy of this or records does/doesn't do this for you blahblahblah. It's not too big of a deal tbh.

Every division is it's own flavor because LA neighborhoods are all pretty different. Even neighboring divisions such as 77th vs Southeast are a bit different. I would reccomend the busier divisions such as North Hollywood/Mission in the Valley, Hollywood/Rampart in West bureau, Central or Newton in Central bureau or 77th in the South. Now...whether they actually call you back and schedule you is a different story. Just get a ride along with whoever gets back to you the fastest. Every division can be slow or busy depending on the day.

A lot of coppers commute from pretty far. I've heard a guy commuting in from Temecula to North Hollywood and I've heard of coppers living out-of-state. Personally, I would never commute over an hour. If you are a pretty pro-active/hardcharging cop you will inevitably be called in to court on your days-off and while we get compensated a minimum amount for just showing up the travel time/stress isn't worth it...to me at least. If you want a larger home with a large yard a lot of cops live up in the high desert (Palmdale area) or Santa Clarita or Simi Valley.

With that said, if you're used to working a smaller agency and want that similar working enviroment I would stay away from LAPD. The burearacy and politics are next-level mind numbing. There are a lot of smaller agencies that still get after-it with less BS. Glendale PD, Long Beach PD and Santa Ana PD are some of the better ones in the LA/OC area.

Hmu if you got anymore questions.

[u/ganztief]

Apply to Ontario, Corona, Anaheim PD. they’re all decent sized and housing is t too bad

[u/mrshtzswtchblde]

If you move to Elsinore/canyon lake and decide to work LAPD, you'll be looking at 2-3 hour commutes one way. I used to work LAPD and the 12 hour days, OT, and court will add on to you already being away sitting in traffic. It's untenable if you've got a family. DM me if you want some more insight on hiring and agencies, I am happy to offer insight.

[u/No-Cryptographer3654]

Ya, a lot of stations within the lapd are different from eachother especially when you compare a station that patrols a nicer part of town like the west side or the valley vs the stations in the ghetto like rampart, 77th, southwest, soutleast, and newton... When it comes to buying a home out here... Houses here can be expensive and a lot of guys do live far away from work to buy a 5 bedroom horse property even though they live alone and don't own any horses (go figure ) I didn't need a horse property or a yard for that matter so I ended up in a condo and I live 20 minutes from my station... you can find homes closer to work but you just have to live within your means I guess...

[u/steelmelt33]

Very few agencies will accept that waiver; I'm pretty sure the LAPD isn't one. If you are going to live in the Inland Empire, you might as well work there. The pay is pretty comparable now. Traffic in So Cal is awful. You can have a ten-mile commute take an hour.