The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Mission is to establish and sustain safe and peaceful communities, including neighborhoods, parks, schools, business districts and homes. We are committed to understanding each community’s vision, values, and specific needs, and to administer/develop law enforcement services that respect the desires of each community we serve.

East Los Angeles Station is committed to providing the community with the highest standard of law enforcement services. As we continue to collaborate with partners in our communities, parks, schools, and businesses. Our services and programs will continue to expand and improve to create and sustain a safe and peaceful community.

Staffing & Demographics
Unincorporated East Los Angeles is 7.48 square miles with a resident population of 126,064. Fifty-six deputies are dedicated to providing patrol service to this community. The City of Commerce is 6.7 square miles with a resident population estimated at 12,568. The City is primarily industrial with a day time population estimated at 43,367. During peak business hours, it is estimated that approximately 100,000 persons “pass through” Commerce on a daily basis. Thirty-two deputy personnel and one service area manager (Sergeant) are dedicated to providing patrol services to this community.

Service Oriented Policing
East Los Angeles Station has made a commitment to provide a superior level of service to the communities it serves. Our intent is to foster closer, more productive relationships with our communities and ensure that they are provided with a superior level of law enforcement service. This philosophy rests on the organizational strategy of deploying line deputies permanently in beat areas where they can operate as community based problem solvers to interact with the same people on a face-to-face-basis each day. This approach encourages the formal and informal input from citizens, providing the community with a voice in helping set law enforcement priorities while developing creative solutions to community problems.

Investigative Services
East Los Angeles Station Detective Bureau
The Bureau is divided into three teams which conduct investigations by a crime classification format.

Team 1 – Auto Theft/Property Crimes is comprised of one sergeant and six detectives. Investigations including all crimes relating to vehicles thefts and crimes against property such as burglaries and grand thefts.

Team 2 – Family Crimes Unit is comprised of one sergeant and five detectives responsible for handling domestic violence cases, elder abuse cases, child abuse cases not handled by the Family Crimes Bureau, sexual assault cases and 290 P.C. sex registrants. The sergeant also serves as a direct liaison to the Violence Intervention Program (VIP), a program that incorporates the Center for the Vulnerable Child, a Sexual Assault Center, and a Domestic Violence Program. Team 3 – Robbery/Assault Team is comprised of one sergeant and four detectives responsible for the investigation of all robberies and assaults.

During the Year 2001, East Los Angeles Detectives investigated approximately 2,696 cases.

Crime Analysis Unit
East Los Angeles Station has a full-time crime analyst and clerk to input and evaluate crime trends within our jurisdiction. Several high profile cases including a serial rapist, two serial robberies and a commercial burglary case were solved last year based in part on the outstanding work of the crime analyst.

Safe Streets Bureau
Operation Safe Streets (O.S.S.) One sergeant and eight detectives work together to reduce gang violence and impact the quality of life in neighborhoods through the persistent application of innovative law enforcement techniques. This concept is based upon ethical practices and effective strategies that endorse the use of extensive prevention, intervention and suppression techniques that align the energies of families, schools, neighborhoods and law enforcement agencies. The unit is responsible for investigating crimes committed by “targeted” street gangs in the East Los Angeles area. The unit works in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies, L.A. County Probation, State Parole, and the District Attorney’s Office in their endeavor to arrest and prosecute violent gang members.

Gang Enforcement Team (G.E.T.)
Relieved of handling routine calls for service, deputies respond to those calls believed to be gang related. This team focuses on those areas frequented by gang members and where reported violent gang activity is occurring. Through the unit’s specialized patrol efforts, the one sergeant and five deputies assigned to G.E.T. have contributed to the significant decrease in gang activity in East Los Angeles Station’s jurisdiction.

Narcotics Bureau
Four detectives and one sergeant are dedicated to investigate and enforce the law as it pertains to the use, possession, sale, manufacturing, and transportation of controlled substances. This team works very closely with patrol, C.O.P.S. and O.S.S./G.E.T. personnel, and is historically one of the most productive narcotics teams on the Sheriff’s department.

Parole/Probation Task Force
The Parole/Probation Task Force targets parolees and probationers who are engaged in criminal activity with a focus on violent gang members. Task Force members act as a liaison between the California Department of Corrections, the California Youth Authority, the District Attorney’s Office, the Los Angeles County Department of Probation and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Task Force members attend community meetings such as Los Angeles County Supervisor Molina’s ELA Task Force Meetings. Members also lecture to Parole and Probation officers at their in-service training meetings, and maintain and distribute law enforcement-related information on parolees and probationers.

Safety Through Our Perseverance Program (S.T.O.P. Team)
The “S.T.O.P.” Team was developed to provide immediate family crisis intervention, resource referral services, victims assistance, threat assessment and safety planning for families in crisis. The Team is comprised of a specially trained Deputy Sheriff and a Shelter Advocate.

Community Prosecutor
A Deputy District Attorney is dedicated to the East Los Angeles Station and works closely with East Los Angeles Station detectives, Narcotics investigators and O.S.S. detectives to solve law enforcement problems with long term strategies and solutions. The Deputy District Attorney is dedicated in improving the quality of life in East Los Angeles by working as a liaison between law enforcement agencies and the court system.

Crime Prevention Programs
The Sheriff’s Department believes that community partnerships and cooperation can enhance the quality of life in area neighborhoods. East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station is pleased to be involved in many unique community based programs which are proving to be highly effective in identifying specific problems and developing solutions in neighborhoods.

Community Relations Unit
Crime prevention personnel organize, mobilize, and facilitate communication with the public and motivate community members to participate in problem solving partnerships. They organize groups such as neighborhood watch meetings, Community Advisory Councils, business owner’s associations, and homeowner’s associations. They attend community meetings and advise the public on neighborhood safety, crime awareness, and building security. One sergeant and three deputies are assigned to the unit. Duties also include organizing youth activity leagues that provide a positive outlet for juveniles through activities such as sports, volunteer work, and education.

Youth Athletic League (Y.A.L.)
The Y.A.L. Program provides a safe, supportive haven for counseling, educational tutoring, and after-school recreational activities for youth. Two YAL deputies are responsible for developing and coordinating programs at Salazar Park and the Maravilla Housing Development in East Los Angeles. Community Development Block Grants and local fund raising offset the cost of these programs which include school academic programs, computer labs, Tae Kwon Do class, modern dance class, boy scouts, fishing, athletics, overnight camping, cultural trips, basketball league, volleyball, and soap box derbies (partial list). There are approximately 700 children involved with these two programs. These programs provide the youth of our community an alternative to gangs and drugs.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, along with the support of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, Supervisor Gloria Molina’s office and the East Los Angeles community are working together on a proposal to open a skate park in the First Supervisorial District, here in East Los Angeles. This project’s overall goal is to provide youth with a safe environment to skate and allow a positive interaction between local youth and law enforcement representatives.

Reserve Deputy Sheriff Program
There are nine Reserve Deputy Sheriffs who are utilized to supplement the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s law enforcement manpower at East Los Angeles Station. Like full-time deputies, Reserve Deputies are professionally trained and duly sworn law enforcement personnel and perform general law enforcement duties, including crime prevention and investigation, responding to calls, traffic control, and enforcement of laws.

Explorer Program

Deputy Explorer Program
Thirty-seven Deputy Explorers are assigned to East Los Angeles Station. Under the Supervision of a full time deputy sheriff, they actively participate in community affairs and non-hazardous law enforcement activities. Deputy Explorers assist deputy sheriffs in report writing, bicycle licensing, public fingerprinting, assist in “Operation Kid Print,” crowd assistance at parades and civic events, anti-crime campaigns, search missions, and statistical computations.

Volunteer Program
East Los Angeles Station is very fortunate to have a very active Civilian Volunteer Program. Fifty-six volunteers currently volunteer their time to assist Sheriff’s Station Personnel and their community in different programs, projects and events. The program has also been expanded to include a Volunteers on Patrol Program that will augment the law enforcement efforts and citizen involvement in the East Los Angeles community.