LAPD RECRUITMENT

Are you looking for an exciting event this weekend?

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Recruitment Section, Personnel Group, invites the public to join FIESTA LAPD 2006.  The FIESTA will take place at the Elysian Park Academy, on Saturday, May 13, 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

FIESTA LAPD 2006 is a major recruitment event with a Latino theme.  This is a great opportunity for the public to learn about the LAPD in a relaxed environment, full of excitement, food and entertainment.  There will be a soccer demonstration, folklorico dancing and other eye-catching events and exhibits.  Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa will attend this event.  The Police Officer and Community Police Aide written exams will be offered at 8:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. for all those interested in joining the LAPD.

LAPD’S RECRUITMENT SECTION

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Recruitment Section, Personnel Group, is dedicated to diversity and to proactively recruiting the most qualified candidates.  We will educate, assist and motivate our candidates as they become the future of the Los Angeles Police Department.  We are available to mentor candidates throughout the hiring process.  We established the candidate assistance program to prepare candidates physically for the Los Angeles Police Academy.  Please visit our website at www.joinlapd.com or call us at (866) 444-LAPD.

Comments

[Terry O'Neill]

12 May 2025

The Editors
The Boston Globe
Boston, MA

To the editors:

As Uncle Tip used to say, "All politics is local." So, too, is the orientation of most of the comment I've read about the departure from Boston of one of American law enforcement's rising stars, Kathleen O'Toole. It's apparent to me, a long-time observer of professional law enforcement, that Dr. O'Toole and Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton have much on which to commiscerate. Both are police professionals of the most impressive and progressive order. Both are being undercut by municipal governments that refuse to provide them the resources they need to fight crime and by the destructive impact that our largely hyped and faked war on terror has had on everyday public safety services here at home.

The war on terror has relegated real policing to a distant second class activity. Don't believe the feel-good security solidarity nonsense you're being fed. Top people in police agencies nationwide are jumping ship to private industry and cobbled-together homeland security bureaucracies that the federal and every state government have hastily established. To her credit as a police professional, Dr. O'Toole is taking a real police job with an agency that badly needs a person with her qualifications and experience. Qualified young people who might otherwise opt for careers in police and corrections work are going into a burgeoning private security industry. College criminal justice departments are retooling their curricula to prepare students for careers in that industry. Police agencies all over America are having recruiting problems. Experienced cops are being hired away from their municipal employers by companies like Dyncorp and Halliburton that send them overseas on lucrative temporary contracts to provide security or train indigenous police.

If ever there was a matter of national security that screams for intense official attention, it is this crisis that is rapidly evolving in our ability to maintain basic law and order in our own communities here at home. Everything I read about Boston assumes that your city is facing a fiery and bloody summer. Reading between the lines, it is obvious to me that Mayor Menino and the City Fathers created a no-win situation for Dr. O'Toole. President Bush certainly has not helped. I don't blame her for a minute for washing her hands of the lot. They sowed the seed. They will reap the whirlwind.

Yours truly,
TERRY O'NEILL
Albany, NY

[dj]

The LAPD would have more to work with if they took recruiting out to phoenix or el paso. There are over 100000 soldiers and airman in those areas. The only thing is it costs money to apply to all the socal agencies when you live this far out. I would be testing right now but I cant unless I get on a greyhound bus and spend another 120 in hotels just to get back on a greyhound bus for 10-15 hours. It makes it kinda rough who live and breath le. If I was single no biggie, but I am married with family.

[Leshon Jackson]

Hi Chief,
I used to think a lot about joining the department, but it seems that no matter what LAPD does they get blamed for it. The City doesn't support the LAPD and neither does the police commission. Every time I hear of someone getting shot, people blame the police instead of blaming the gangs or the parents of these shot suspects. When will the LAPD get all they need to battle these gangs and criminals??? I hope that you can help us in L.A. we really need it. If you are serious about getting more police, give them more pay, and the tools that they need to do the job. You could also do something about all of the bogus complaints that officers get from gang members tying up IA and the officer in false investigations. I couldn't work knowing that no matter how hard I tried I would be defending myself everyday against false acquisitions.
The best thing that you could do Chief is support your men, give them the tools they need, and hire the best, don't settle for poor candidates. Then you will get more officers.
Thanks for giving us a chance to communicate with you Chief and Good Luck.
Leshon Washington

[Ramses]

An agency like the LAPD is probably always hiring. But I recently read in The LA Times that the mayor has asked Chief William Bratton to start cutting spending in the department. I wonder how that would affect recruiting new officers for the street. Late ABC News' Peter Jennings reported back in 2003 I think that the LAPD had about 9,000 officers versus about 39,000 in New York. LA has a population of almost 4 millions while New York is double. My point is that the LAPD will need to continue hiring officers.

Ramses
Shepherdstown, WV

[chris johnson]

My late father was NYPD and my brother is currently on the job in NY as well.
I would never work for your agency or NY either because of your eagerness to arrest productive citizens for unconstitutional so called "gun crimes".
If I wanted to live under communism
I would move to CA, NY or China and Cuba.
Your eagerness to embrace the philoshpy of Stalin and Hitler make me puke.

[Paul]

I really do not know why you have not looked towards the Reserve Program as a source of bolstering your numbers. You get upstanding citizens from the community who would love to work for free. The main problem is your Department is closed minded to the fact that there are several memebers of the community who live in the Valley. I have called the Reserve Corps, and they advised that if I wanted to be a reserve I would have to attend the academy in Los Angeles. Does anyone relaize how impossible it is to drive from the Valley to your academy and be ready for an inspection by 6 or 7 pm? This is after working a full day at our "day jobs"? I posed this question to one of your Captains and he replied "Well sir, that would take a high level of commitment on your part, wouldn't it?" Nice answer. Why not have a Valley Academy at the Davis Training Center every couple of cycles to see if it garners interest? Why not make the academy easier for working people to join? De-emphasize the PT component and emphasize the thinking and community component and you will have more volunteers. I am no tri-athelete but I do want to help out the community. With terrorism abound, the more community members involved in the community police effort, the safer we will all be.

[Terry O'Neill]

Well, Chief, there you have it. I raise hell about manpower problems in Boston and LA and Mayor Villaraigoso comes through. Now let's see what Mayor Menino does. Cheers!

[Matt Payne]

Raising trash collection fees will not fix the lack of candidates being hired. The problem exists once those apply enter the funnel, commonly known as the LAPD Hiring Process.

Perhaps it's time to take a long hard look at some of those individuals who are given free reign to decide an applicants fate, without ever being questioned. They should be given the same extensive background investigations that is done on LAPD applicants. The findings might be interesting...And, they should be made to back up their decisions with irrefutable facts to support their decision. This is not currently the case.

As the system currently stands, there are no checks and balances and as we all know: Absolute power will corrupt absolutely...

If only 6% of those who apply, end up getting hired, something's wrong and we, the taxpayers deserve better, as does the LAPD!

[Robert L. Cerra]

Hello Terry
You have to be the same O'neill that wrote the puff piece for Kathy O'Toole in the Boston Globe May 18th.

I'm a law enforcment professional from the Boston area and you're letter to the editor was interesting. It only confrims that belief by some in the law enforcement community that Ms O'toole is indicative of a new trend in law enforcment administration that is heavily politicized and not a good sign for cops.
I noted that you indicate that you were a criminal Justice advisor to a democratic politician. There are also some in the law enforcment community that are thankful that the democrats are not in control of keeping us safe in the war on terror.

Regards
Robert L. Cerra
Massachusetts State Police (Ret.)

[z]

It doesnt matter how many you can hire.. Its how many can you retain. The department is setting itself up for failure. The only thing holding the department together is the big city funds of LOS ANGELES!! Chief Bratton is not going to do anything about it..just bow down to the politics and citzens that run with the ACLU. Hopefully it doesnt take a riot again to start rebuilding the department to the greatness it was and greatness that most people believe it still Is and the greatness LAPD is capable of. But like everything else its all about who leads them into the fire!!!!!! SO on that note JOIN LAPD

[parkerlewis]

In response to Matt Payne, the following comments are made in an attempt to help him better understand the selection process.

Candidates for the department that are scheduleded for oral interviews have completed most of the qualifying process, i.e., background investigation, physical agility testing, psycholgical and medical testing, etc.

The interview board is comprised of two regular sworn department members and a civilian interview expert. The sworn officers, who hold regular patrol or investigative positions, have volunteered to conduct the interviews and have received specialized training by the Personnel Department. The sworn members, rotated on a regular basis, are only called upon for one day every month or two to conduct the interviews.

The standarized questions, formulated by the Personnel Department, that are asked of candidates are designed to see how individuals thinks under various life situations that they have personally experienced. There are no "correct" responses, but, naturally, some responses are better that others. The responses are then measured against predetermined standards (which must remain confidential in order to protect the integrity of the testing process). After the candidate has completed the interview, each board member then rates the candidate. The board members then compare their scores with one another. If a score is not unanimous, a debate will take place among the members until a consensus is reached. The only agenda of the board is to hire the best candidate for the job.

Additionally, the unspoken questions in the mind of each board member is, "Would this person be competent to respond to a call generated by my spouse/mother/child? How will they behave under stress? Do I want this person as a partner to watch my back?"

In 1974, the ratio of officer candidate to applicant was one in 25, i.e., 4%. Apparently, that ratio is still valid today.

[John Santiago]

okay so the LAPD has some critcs on their behinds but I still beleive in the justice system becuase their has to be some good peeps left to protect society from those who take advantage of them.... When I join I just hope that they will consider me for hiring but I am of good background, physically fit, taking college courses and ready for the LApd to become a detective and really become part of the city and help rebuild the LApd to where it was and show these critics that the LAPD still has some good poeple in it....