LAPD Reorganizes
Chief Bratton revises the Department

On February 4th Chief of Police William Bratton was out of town, so Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell presented the most recent draft version of the revised LAPD Organizational Chart on his behalf to the Police Commission meeting, explaining that some additional small tweaks could be expected.

Keeping his promise to begin revealing his vision for the reorganization of the Department by the end of January, Chief Bratton wanted to show the Commission the direction the LAPD is headed.

The draft version also had to be sent over to City Council for its review, since there may be funding implications that body will need to consider.

Chief McDonnell explained that the reorganization took into consideration a number of factors, principally dealing with:

Instead, the Department's three Assistant Chiefs, Jim McDonnell himself, George Gascon and Sharon Papa will have a significant number of groups and Bureaus reporting to them.

Two newly formed Bureaus, the Homeland Security Bureau, headed by John Miller, and the Consent Decree Bureau, with Gerald Chaleff at the helm, will report directly to Chief Bratton, but Homeland Security will have a special relationship under Chief McDonnell as well.

LAPD's Internal Affairs Bureau, commanded by a Deputy Chief, and Public Information Office, led by Mary Grady, will also be under the Chief of Police, as will the smaller Government Liaison and Community Relations groups.

A principal change under the draft presented, and one that might have an impact on local policing and patrol functions, is the addition of an extra Commander within each of the City's four regions. The Deputy Chiefs for Central, South, Valley and West Bureaus will be able to use some discretion as they decide the best use of these Commanders, who are ranked above Captains.

In some cases, Assistant Chief McDonnell explained, it may be desirable to have a Commander become the temporary commanding officer of a troubled Division within the Bureau. On the other hand, the Bureau may have a series of programs that deserve special attention.

Click here to view the actual current LAPD Organizational Chart (EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an unusually large graphic file, and may take a few moments to load. You may prefer to look at the list below.)

Here in list format are some of the major groups in the draft, and who will report to whom:

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a DRAFT reorganization, and subject to change. We'll continue to monitor how Chief Bratton proceeds to design the Department to better fit his vision -- for a more responsive, more antonymous, more accountable LAPD structure.