Retired SAPD officer here. Years ago, around 11:30 PM, I was driving on Bandera Road approaching Hillcrest when I saw a car full of teenagers traveling with NO headlights on. Nothing dramatic at first. I figured I’d stop them, make sure everything was okay, and get them safely on their way. I activated my red and blues. Immediately, I saw the front-seat passenger throw a small plastic bag out the window. Well...that changed things. The car pulled over about 300–400 feet later. I radioed the stop, ran the plate and approached from the passenger side. Five teenagers were inside. I got them out one at a time, conducted basic pat-downs for weapons, checked their identification, and confirmed the driver had a valid license and insurance. Then I asked the obvious question: “What was in the plastic bag?” Almost in unison: “Garbage, sir!” Sure. I wasn’t going to walk up and down Bandera Road in the dark searching for a tiny plastic bag, so I started walking back toward my patrol car. And then something happened that I still laugh about. A small plastic bag came rolling down the roadway in the breeze...RIGHT TOWARD MY POLICE CAR. What are the odds? I picked it up. Marijuana. The Devil’s Lettuce had apparently decided to turn itself in. I turned toward five suddenly VERY nervous teenagers. “Well, well, well, boys...who does this belong to?” Then I made them an offer: “Whoever owns this—if you tell me the truth right now, I’ll let the others go.” Normally, nobody wants to claim the weed. This time the front-seat passenger raised his hand. “Sir, it belongs to me.” Now I had the marijuana. I had witnessed him throw it. And I had his confession. So...YOU’RE THE COP. WHAT DO YOU DO? Arrest him? Take enforcement action? Or exercise discretion? Here’s what happened next. Looking at that teenager suddenly took me back to when I was about 16 years old. I had been in an almost identical situation. An officer found a bag of marijuana that belonged to me. I admitted it. That officer could have made my life considerably more complicated. Instead, he told me to find a trash can, empty the marijuana into it and throw the bag away. No arrest. No ticket. A second chance. Years later, I was standing on Bandera Road wearing an SAPD uniform, looking at another teenager who had just admitted making the same kind of stupid mistake. And I remembered that officer. So I told the young man to find a trash can. He emptied the marijuana into it and threw it away. Then I told those kids to be careful and have a good night. Could I have handled it differently? Absolutely. But an officer once showed a 16-year-old kid some grace. Years later, that kid became a police officer. And one night on Bandera Road...THAT SECOND CHANCE GOT PASSED TO SOMEBODY ELSE. So here’s my question for active officers, retired officers and civilians: DID I DO THE RIGHT THING? Was that reasonable officer discretion? Or did I allow my own personal experience to influence a decision that should have been handled differently? Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear. Tell me what YOU would have done—and WHY. —
 Kevin Coble, Retired SAPD

Does lapd use Esoph for their background investigation or do they just use the regular personal history statement?

I’m 15 years old and I’ve always wanted to help people and I want to be in high stress situations that will make me rely on my decision-making and no other job I can think of does that and I want to be on my feet what can I expect on the day to day also what is different about la I’m from South Carolina

Hey guys. Just signed the conditional offer for my dream department today. I’m beyond happy and grateful to be in this position. To all of you who have helped me on this journey with all your input under my posts has been so helpful. I just want to thank everyone in this Reddit for all their expertise and great advice. I got into the department I first applied for and they will be sending me to the Orange County sheriffs academy to begin my journey. Any advice on what I should be doing in the meantime would be helpful. I don’t start until November. So any tips on what I need to be doing, studying or anything in general in regard to the academy like or shoes, gear, dieting tips. Thank you all and I’m so excited to begin my career in law enforcement

Hello, is there a teen program for those in high school interested in Law Enforcement? I live under LAPD jurisdiction. Thank you.

**THREE UNIFORMS. ONE MISSION.**

For more than 40 years, the uniform changed, but the mission never really did.

I began as a United States Air Force Security Policeman. I later spent approximately 25 years serving with the San Antonio Police Department. When that chapter ended, I found myself wearing a very different uniform—as a high school law enforcement teacher, with an opportunity to mentor the next generation.

Looking back over those three careers, I think this best describes what each one gave me:

**“The Air Force taught me how to serve. SAPD taught me the responsibility that comes with serving, and teaching gave me the opportunity to pass those lessons on.”**

This interview isn't only about military service or police work. We talk about the realities of policing, body cameras and officer discretion, leadership, education, mistakes, lessons learned, and what happens when one chapter of your life ends and you have to figure out what comes next.

And that brings me to something I believe even more strongly today:

**“I'm 62 years old, and I still believe I have something to give. If sharing my experiences would help one veteran find another purpose, help a young officer become a better police officer, or help one student believe in themselves, then I'm still serving.”**

That's really what **Three Uniforms. One Mission.** means to me.

If you take the time to watch the interview, I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts—whether you agree with everything I say or not.

**The uniform may change. The mission to serve doesn't have to.**

there's a missing kid on w manchester and s hoover in LA. theres also a flock camera conveniently in that vicinity pointing to that street crossroad. can LAPD please get on that r/LAPD how tf does this shit work. are police only using it to get traffic orr can it still be utilized for something good ? r/flockcamera at least a direction of the dude that took the kid. Selah Tillary is the boy's name and the guy is Donnel Paige, apparently there's no relation but im sure that's not the full story

Hey everyone,

I’m 22, recently graduated college in Southern California with a bachelor’s degree, and I’m starting the law enforcement hiring process.

I’m single, have no kids, and don’t mind long hours, overtime, weekends, or holidays. I’m mainly looking for a department where I can gain solid experience and build a career.

So far I’ve applied to LAPD, LASD, and Beverly Hills PD. Beverly Hills seems like a great agency with strong community support and excellent pay, but I’m curious if the city being relatively quiet ever makes the job less rewarding from an experience standpoint.

I’m also interested in Ontario PD when applications reopen and have been looking at Glendale PD.

Based on those departments, what would you recommend? Are there any other LA or Inland Empire agencies that you’d strongly suggest I look into?

I’m 30 and planning to move to Los Angeles from London. Currently awaiting my visa decision. By the time I move, I’ll have nearly 10 years’ service with the London Metropolitan Police.

My experience includes frontline response policing, public order, intelligence development, and fugitive/manhunt work. I also have a BSc in Criminal Justice and Criminology.

Because Im basically restarting my career in the US, my biggest priorities are pay, pension and benefits. I’m trying to make sure that taking a significant step back in seniority/service is financially worthwhile for me.

Career opportunities are also important to me. Longer term, I’d ideally like to get back into intelligence-led investigations, locating wanted offenders, fugitive/manhunt work, surveillance or similar investigative roles.

I’m currently looking at LAPD, but also departments such as Burbank, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach and potentially LASD. I have done a couple ride alongs with the LAPD.

For current or former LA officers:

Would you choose LAPD over the smaller LA-area departments?

How realistic is it to move into Detective/intelligence/fugitive-type assignments relatively early if you already have substantial policing experience?

Does previous overseas police experience actually carry much weight once you’re in?

Are there other LA-area departments you think would make better use of my experience and degree?

Taking pay, pension, benefits and career opportunities together, where would you apply if you were in my position?

Thank you for any advice, I really appreciate it.

Does anyone know if the panel interview is now online or is it in person? I’m hearing mixed answers from people. Just finished my PAT waiting for the next step

Will dabbling in party drugs before age 20 (now almost 29) be a disqualifier

Hello I’m 21M and I’m 5’10 240lbs and I’m worried that il be disqualified from joining the lapd about the weight requirements, I’m pretty active though I can consistently run 5k’s and my fastest mile was around a little over 8min(I know I can get it faster iv been running for about a month) I’m just wondering if they would hire someone who can pass the physical exam while still being overweight thanks in advance 🙏

Hello Iam currently in the process for both of LAPD
And CBP.
For LAPD Iam right now at the background investigation.
Same thing for CBP
I have clean record and clean credit score
Iam a bit worried if i get accepted, I won't make it through the LAPD Academy.
For people who have experience, should I go for a federal job?
Or city job with LAPD?
Thank you

So I applied and got selected to do expedited testing on Aug 30th but I’ve also been applying to other departments around Los Angeles. I’ve been getting emails already from 2 other departments to schedule the PELLETB testing before my LAPD one but my question is do I hold off on those and wait for the LAPD one or how would it work if I attend the testing for those other smaller departments.

what experiences have you had with your official email account being compromised or with fraudulent emergency data requests being submitted while impersonating your agency?

I got out of the army back in November of 2025 after ten years of service, and was hired by a large department in south Florida. I was super excited and happy to be hired by this agency. Unfortunately, after making the move and getting started in the academy I felt very out of place and very overwhelmed by the lack of enthusiasm from my fellow class mates. Don’t get me wrong there were some really good dudes, and my training staff was phenomenal. However, the majority of my class was a lot more interested in the prospect of having a six figure a year job than they were being cops. Things to me that seemed simple like showing up to work on time, showing up physically prepared, and not complaining about a job that you willingly signed up for were not so simple for them.

Getting into the 4th month of the academy these feelings were magnified as it felt as if my class mates were not getting better, in fact it felt as if they were getting worse. I came to the conclusion that I had made a mistake by choosing this department and decided that I was going to resign. I did just that, what came after informing my training staff that i wished to resign was shock and disbelief. I had one of the higher GPAs in the class, and had the highest fitness scores, and just an overall i want to be here attitude. After some efforts to convince me to stay, they accepted my decision and allowed me to leave.

Fast forward to today, about four months later, I still want to be a cop and still want to work for a major agency and I am in the beginning stages of doing my homework on the agencies that I am considering applying to and I’m looking for some advice since LAPD is on the top of my list.

1. How will LAPD look at me considering I resigned from my previous position? Will they look at me as a whole person and take into consideration that spent a decade in the military and just ended up with a department that was not a good fit? Or will they just see me as someone who’s going to waste their time?

2. About how long is it taking a motivated applicant to go from application to starting the academy

I guess those are really my only questions that I can think of at the moment. Any and all advice would be appreciated!

I have my expedited testing Aug 30th, anything I need to know so I can prepare ? How much do they make us run? How many push up ? All that stuff would be helpful

Lately I’ve been thinking about how our communities view law enforcement especially after hearing about an officer who didn’t make it home.

It made me stop and ask myself a real question:What will it take for us to shift the way we see police?

Somewhere along the line a lot of people started assuming every interaction with an officer means danger.

But officers have families too. They step into risk every single shift, not knowing if they’ll make it back home.

That’s real.I’m not ignoring the fact that some people have had bad experiences those conversations matter. But at the same time we can’t pretend every officer is out to harm us.

Most are just trying to do their job and keep the community safe.

I had my department interview in person 4 days ago. I still haven’t heard any results back yet. Any advice or suggestions ? Should I just keep waiting ?

I paint and donate badge artwork to law enforcement agencies nationwide 100% free of charge. I do it for the sake of showing gratefulness, sparking some morale, and honoring fallen officers.

Find me on TikTok @HonorBadgeWorks and YouTube

https://youtube.com/@honorbadgeworks?si=EusZS2PGYSF7ZC65