150 North Los Angeles Street
Room 818
Los Angeles, California 90012
213-485-3134
The Los Angeles Police Department’s standard operating procedures include a mission statement, core values, and twenty management principles. Within the management principles, there exist two which specifically and emphatically declare that Crime Prevention is the Department’s top priority, and that it necessarily requires the willing cooperation of both the police and the public working together toward a common goal. In keeping with the spirit of these management principles, a Crime Prevention branch of the Department was established in the late 1920s. Although there have been numerous name changes and placements within the Department’s organizational structure through the years, today’s Crime Prevention Unit (CPU) perseveres in its original mission to prevent crime and disorder in the city by working with various elements within the Department and the public.
One of the hallmarks of the Crime Prevention Unit was its involvement in the Neighborhood Watch program, which reached its apex in the early to mid-1970s. During this period, the Department engaged in an operational mode known as Team Policing, a precursor to today’s popular Community Policing philosophy. Working with patrol teams in the field, CPU administered the Neighborhood Watch program with the result of providing for unification of individual citizens in a campaign of vigilance and self-protection through regularly scheduled meetings between officers and residents held at a neighborhood residence. By practicing the technique of "neighbor protecting neighbor," significant improvements in neighborhood security were realized. After Team Policing was disbanded in 1978 due to budget constraints, the principles of Neighborhood Watch were so firmly imbedded in the minds of patrol officers that it continues to exist as an effective means of mobilizing neighborhood resources long after the cessation as a formal Department program.
Operating under the auspices of Community Relations Section, CPU is responsible for the following functions:
▪ Implementing and coordinating Department crime prevention information programs
▪ Assisting patrol personnel with crime prevention information, visual aids, and program material, as needed
▪ Preparing crime prevention messages for broadcasting through local television and radio programs
▪ Submitting crime prevention articles for publication in magazines and newspapers
▪ Developing, designing, and publishing all Department crime prevention brochures
▪ Developing crime prevention seminars
▪ Developing and assembling crime prevention displays
▪ Developing security legislation for residential, commercial and industrial buildings
▪ Conducting crime prevention training programs within the Department
▪ Conducting security surveys of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings
▪ Developing standardized architectural improvements for security design
▪ Researching and preparing Environmental Impact Reports required of the Department and analyzing said Reports that may affect the Department
The ongoing task of crime prevention is incumbent upon everyone. The efforts of CPU are geared to facilitate that task and maximize the benefits derived.
inside the lapd
