Municipal Police Departments
Los Angeles County

Los Angeles Police Department vehicle on street. Los Angeles Almanac Photo.

For cities not listed below, see Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

* Law enforcement employee counts (as of October 31, 2021), submitted by agencies.
† Based on 2021 population estimates. See General Estimated Population by City in Los Angeles County.

Source: California Office of the Attorney General, Open Justice Data

For cities not listed above, see Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

All Los Angeles County municipalities not listed above contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services, with the exception of the City of Santa Fe Springs. In 1995, Santa Fe Springs became the first municipality in Los Angeles County to contract with an adjoining city (City of Whittier) for police services. In 2003, Cudahy ended its contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and contracted with the neighboring Maywood Police Department for police services. That contract, however, was ended when Maywood's department later disbanded (see next paragraph), forcing Cudahy back to the Sheriff's Department.

In an unprecedented move by any California city, the City of Maywood disbanded almost all municipal departments and services, including the Maywood Police Department, effective June 30, 2010. The city council was forced to respond to cancellation of the city's workman's compensation and commercial insurance coverage by the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (JPIA), due to a poor claims history over the period of 2005 to 2010. This negative claims history included a number of expensive lawsuits against the police department (the department was reported to hire officers fired by other law enforcement agencies). After dismissal of the police department, the city contracted with the the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services. The Maywood Police Department had also served a contract for the City of Cudahy for police services, after Cudahy cancelled their contract with the Sheriff's Department in 2003. With the disbanding of the Maywood Police Department, Cudahy was forced to re-contract with the Sheriff.

After a long, bitter relationship between Compton City Council and the Compton Police Department, the council voted in July 2000 to disband the department and contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services. The council cited financial savings. Members of the department attributed the move to a vendetta against the department.

In 1997, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, responsible for police services for much of the bus and rail public transit in Los Angeles County, was disbanded and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority contracted with the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Of the more than 300 police officers working for MTA, 60 percent were then absorbed by the LAPD and the remaining number absorbed by the Sheriff's Department. LAPD assumed police services for transit lines within the city of Los Angeles and the Sheriff's Department for MTA lines operating outside Los Angeles.

In 1995, the City of Hawaiian Gardens discontinued its contract with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department to form Los Angeles County’s newest police department, comprised of 20 officers. A few years later, however, faced with a budget crisis, the City Council voted, over objections of residents, to disband the department and re-establish a contract with the Sheriff.

In 1990, the Azusa Police Department added a Chevrolet Camaro Z28 to its small fleet of patrol vehicles, the first Camaro delivered to a police department. The unconventional police vehicle was reportedly slipped past the city council as a non-descript item in the police budget, but, despite initial misgivings, became popular with the public.

Many police departments in Los Angeles County use reserve officers -- officers who perform part-time law enforcement duties.