Best agencies in the Los Angeles Area

[whatsnipes]

Hi I know this is a subjective question and everyone has their own opinion but just wondering what agencies in the LA area have a good reputation and high morale as well as good pay.
I like the south bay as the weather is cooler and seems like these communities support the police.

[clof2001]

Avoid LAPD and LASO. Torrance and Redondo Beach are pretty good, have friends at both. High cost of living. Long Beach used to be the gold standard for South Bay, but they are way too woke and political nowadays.

If you venture into Orange County, La Habra, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa are small and medium sized depts with pretty good support from the community. If I could do it all over again I'd go to Orange PD. Irvine pays really well but I don't think they do real police work and they are very picky with their hires. Anaheim and Santa Ana are high volume/high crime areas.

Everyone I know wants to get in to OC Sheriff, but it's hard to get to patrol. A friend of mine just lateraled there with 6 years of patrol experience and they sent him straight to the courts for at least a year or two. I imagine it's much longer for the newbies.

Footnote: avoid California altogether if able.

[whatsnipes]

What dept do you work for if you don’t mind me asking? Also, heard anything about el segundo or Manhattan beach dept?

[Tyrese]

Avoid LAPD and LASO. Torrance and Redondo Beach are pretty good, have friends at both. High cost of living. Long Beach used to be the gold standard for South Bay, but they are way too woke and political nowadays.

If you venture into Orange County, La Habra, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa are small and medium sized depts with pretty good support from the community. If I could do it all over again I'd go to Orange PD. Irvine pays really well but I don't think they do real police work and they are very picky with their hires. Anaheim and Santa Ana are high volume/high crime areas.

Everyone I know wants to get in to OC Sheriff, but it's hard to get to patrol. A friend of mine just lateraled there with 6 years of patrol experience and they sent him straight to the courts for at least a year or two. I imagine it's much longer for the newbies.

Footnote: avoid California altogether if able.

Do you know why Anaheim has had a $10,000 hiring bonus for the past year? Are they still understaffed a year later?
Also in regards to LAPD vs LASD, which do you think is worse?

[LA Copper]

Like you said, it's all subjective and depends what you're looking for.

If you want lots of "action" and lots of different job opportunities, the bigger departments are the way to go. As you can see, I'm LAPD and would do it again if I had to. I have 30+ years on the job and would still recommend our department. There is so much to do on this department that it's hard to be bored. You can move around all over the city, which is 465 square miles. If you tick off your boss, you can move to a different division. You can't really do that in a smaller department. We also have lots of promotion opportunities that don't come along often in smaller departments.

On the other hand, we don't pay as well as some of the smaller departments and we do have our detractors... but who doesn't nowadays. Some of the other departments do have more community support, which is also a good thing.

I'm sure some people won't agree with me but that's ok, we all have an opinion....

If you can do it, try a ride along in several different departments and get a feel for them to help make a more informed decision.

[Jay365]

I have friends at Burbank, Glendale, Whittier, Downey, and RSO. They all love it.

Between you and me, stay away from LASD.

[clof2001]

Do you know why Anaheim has had a $10,000 hiring bonus for the past year? Are they still understaffed a year later?
Also in regards to LAPD vs LASD, which do you think is worse?

Everyone has hiring bonuses right now, everyone is understaffed. Anaheim PD I'm sure is a fine department, but 5 minutes outside of Disneyland, the stadium and the convention center, its hot call after hot call after hot call. I lived there for a few years. Dope, homeless, gangs run the city. If you're 25 years old and have the energy then go for it.

Buy and read a week's worth of newspapers from the LA Times if you want to know about how their community feels about law enforcement. Vilified at every government level possible.

[whatsnipes]

Anybody hear anything about the Orange County dept such as Newport and Huntington Beach?

[Blizz]

Also in regards to LAPD vs LASD, which do you think is worse?

Yes.