Keep Bailing

The former and often described iconic LAPD Parker Center headquarters has officially shuttered its doors.

Parker Center had been home base for the department for more than 50 years.  It wasn’t until city officials began voicing concerns that the structure might not be able to sustain a large earthquake that it was abandoned.   Since that time police operations have been  relocated to the Police Administration Building next to city hall.  Inmates who would have been booked in at Parker Center are now being taken to the newly constructed Los Angeles Metro Jail.

Despite being housed in a different location for the past three years, many members of the LAPD continue to Read more »

LAPD Emergency Staging Area Enjoyed By Local Pooches

Four-legged residents of downtown Los Angeles are happy to get at any amount of green-space they can, say their owners, and the pups are thankful they can make good use of the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters emergency staging area.

The grassy knoll adjacent to the LAPD Metropolitan Center Jail on 2nd Street between Main and Spring Streets has long been functioning as a make-shift dog park, according to a recent story by the LA Times.  At the same time, the one-acre area isn’t technically a park.

At the same time, the Los Angeles Police Department says they are happy to share.  A Department representative said they don’t have the funds to maintain the area, but thanks to residents and dog-owners, the space is weeded, mowed, and cared for on a regular basis.

Signage requesting dog owners keep their pets leashed is often ignored, but since the dogs aren’t causing any harm, police are turning a blind-eye to the violation.

In addition to being a great place for dogs to socialize, residents say it’s Read more »

LAPD Announces New Policies Pertaining To The Transgender Community

The Transgender Law Center is applauding the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for adopting new policies and procedures for questioning and housing members of the transgender community.

The first acknowledgement comes in adopting separate housing facilities for transgender inmates.

An LAPD spokesperson said this inmate population will soon be housed in a separate location at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center. The facility will also provide medical treatment, including hormones, to detainees.

The move was announced earlier this week at a meeting in Hollywood.  The LAPD said they believe Read more »

I didn’t need to see the morning news to find out that the LAPD cleared out the Los Angeles Occupy site. Instead, we were answering calls from family looking to post bail bonds for the protesters.

Apparently, more than 200 Occupy Los Angeles protestors were arrested early this morning in what the Los Angeles Police Department calls a “peaceful sweep”. LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck addressed the media shortly after the disbandment of the camp, saying that the arrests were “mainly peaceful”.

Arrestees were loaded onto buses and taken to the LAPD Metro Jail to be booked and processed.  Bail for those that called us was set at $5,000. The jailer at the downtown LA Metropolitan Center Jail told us that protestors would not be released on their own recognizance or “cited out” as protesters usually are. We are somewhat skeptical of that given the already overcrowded Los Angeles jail systems. However, each individual will certainly be screened for warrants on a nation-wide basis. So with so many individuals to book in, any release, be it on bail or otherwise will be hours away.

According to  the Los Angeles Times, several hundred police officers arrived at the camp just after midnight and surrounded the encampment and declared it to be an “unlawful assembly”. Occupiers were told Read more »

The Occupy movement, first started in September, has gained country-wide momentum since its inception.  Elected officials in the city of Los Angeles, however; say that it’s time the protest stationed outside City Hall meets its end.

Some protesters say they have no intention of packing up.  This leaves many questioning how LAPD Chief Charlie Beck will move forward.   Beck said that while he wishes to comply with orders from the Mayor and City Council, that he wants to be mindful as to mistakes the department has made in previous years when dealing with protestors.  Beck said he intends to be mindful that the LAPD does “not become the story”.

During a 2007 May Day protest in MacArthur Park, the LAPD’s Metro Division “used Read more »

LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC)

After long debate, the $84 million jail facility, to open in downtown Los Angeles, is scheduled to open either Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

However, due limited staffing resources, the jail will take 83 officers off the streets and into the jail to operate it.

The new Metro Center Jail facility (apparently be referred to by LAPD as “MDC” or Metropolitian Dention Center) is taking the place of the out-dated jail known as the Parker Center. The Parker Center jail was nearly a half-century old and inmates are known to use the plumbing system as a way of sabotage, by flooding it and making it run into other floors of the jail.

Michel Moore, the LAPD Assistant Police Chief, stated in regards to the opening of the new prison and reassigning the 83 law enforcement officers they currently have as the “least unfavorable option, given the circumstances that we’re in.”

Moore also stated to the Los Angeles City Council Budget and Finance and Public Safety Committees that, “The department is not attempting to argue that this is a good thing to do. It is instead trying to argue that it is a necessary effort [because] to continue to operate within Parker Center jail in its current conditions, we do not believe is the most responsible use of our resources.”

He also assured the committees and public Read more »

On Monday, a city panel reassigned 83 LAPD officers to the new Metropolitan Detention Center Jail in efforts to get it running by the end of January. Although many city officials and the LAPD are apparently against the approval of taking officers off the street and relocating them to the jail, because of the hiring freeze, it’s the only viable option.

According to City Councilman Greg Smith, “Other options are even worse.”

The approved plan will take police officers from the street and relocate them to the jail for six-month periods.

The Metropolitan Center was finished 18-months ago, but the LAPD have been unable to open the new facility due to under staffing. The new facility was built in order to take place of the Parker Center jail. Parker Center jail is an outdated and smaller jail facility with a capacity of 440 inmates. Chief Michel Moore said that keeping the Parker Center jail open is an unsafe Read more »

Approximately 90 Los Angeles Police Deparment officers will be taken off the streets and reassigned to work in a new LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) jail facility that has previously gone unused.

A recent decision made by LAPD officials is the solution to the current “hiring freeze” as well as operating the $74-mililon structure that hasn’t been in use since May of 2009.

Another solution this decision will provide is the closing of the old Parker Center jail, which has increasingly been an issue, due to health and safety risks. With the closing of the old jail, approximately 100 officers and jailers will be available to run the new jail.

Assistant Chief Michel Moore stated that the department has acted on its own and created the plan to use officers as jailers. They will also keep the doors open on four other smaller jails. The plan enlists 83 officers who have been with the force for a year and completed the probationary period. It will also include, five sergeants, all of whom will attend a six-month stint with the jail until another fresh group of young officers come in to replace them.

There is some speculation around the plan to move the officers from the street to the jail facility, as the department currently sees many struggles with their officers. The officers have been Read more »

The Los Angeles Police Department’s new Metropolitan Detention Center is set to replace the failing 60 year old Parker Center Jail, but the budget crisis continues to prevent the new jail from opening.

Greg Rynerson Bail Bonds continues with our “Inside the Jail” series this week: Inside the New LAPD Metro Center Jail. Here you will learn:

• The costs and reasons for a new jail.
• Problems at the current Parker Center jail.
• The jail layout and purposes.
• Staffing considerations.
• The benefits of the new jail and the down side.

The $74 million jail is state-of-the-art, but the staffing needs and the city hiring moratorium keep the bars shut. Will Los Angeles make an exception and allow hiring of new jail staff? Or, will there be a major crisis at Parker Center?

If there’s a jail you’d like to “go inside,” let us know and we’ll add it to our series.