LAPD Metropolitan Division

The Metropolitan Division (Metro) of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is an elite division within the department that is most notably known as the unit that operates LAPD's SWAT teams. Captain Jeffrey Greer is the current Commanding Officer of the Metropolitan Division.

= History =

The Metropolitan Division was formed in 1933 as a compact, mobile crime-fighting unit that worked throughout Los Angeles to suppress criminal activity. Originally, it was known as the Reserve Unit. [cite web| url=http://www.lapdonline.org/metropolitan_division/content_basic_view/6359|title= History of Metro Division|accessdate=2008 07 05] In 1968, the Division was expanded from 70 officers to approximately 200 officers. In 1997, following the North Hollywood bank robbery, the Division was authorized to increase to its current strength of approximately 350 sworn personnel and 16 civilian support personnel. [cite web| url=http://www.lapdonline.org/metropolitan_division/content_basic_view/6359|title= History of Metro Division|accessdate=2008 07 05] It was originally located in the LAPD's headquarters, Parker Center, but now it is based in the Central Facilities Building. [cite web| url=http://www.lapdonline.org/metropolitan_division/content_basic_view/6359|title= History of Metro Division|accessdate=2008 07 05]

=Current Mission=Today, the Metropolitan Division's primary responsibility (other than SWAT) is to provide support to the LAPD’s community-based policing efforts by deploying additional crime suppression resources throughout Los Angeles when needed. [cite web | url=http://www.lapdonline.org/metropolitan_division/content_basic_view/6359|title= History of Metro Division|accessdate=2008 07 05] Assignments of both SWAT and Metro Division as a whole include:
*counter-terrorism
*providing assistance to investigators in solving major crimes
*responding to high-risk barricaded situations
*stakeouts
*security details
*serving warrants
*uniformed crime suppression details (crowd control)

=Organization=There are five field platoons (B, C, D, E, and K-9 Platoons) and an operations platoon (A Platoon); all platoons are supervised by a Lieutenant. The Operations Platoon performs the administrative and support functions. “B” and “C” Platoons are primarily responsible for crime suppression. Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), “D” Platoon personnel, respond to emergency situations involving barricaded suspects or hostages. “K-9” Platoon and “E” (Mounted Unit) Platoon makes up the remainder of the Division. The Division also maintains a doctor, crisis negotiators and other specialists in weaponry, computer science, and audio-visual technology.

A Platoon

"A" platoon serves as the command and administrative section and also provides the support function for the Division. In addition to the administrative duties, they coordinate Metro’s many tactical firearms training programs, ensure compliance with state-mandated (POST) training, and maintain the extensive armory of specialized weapons. Additionally, the Crime Analysis and Deployment Detail utilizes automated repressible crime information citywide to determine Metro deployment in identified high-risk areas.

“B” and “C” Platoons

"B" and "C" platoons are tasked with crowd control, riot control, and crime suppression. Their most active function is maintaining selective enforcement details in high frequency crime areas and targeting repeat offenders and criminal predators. Particular efforts are directed to the suppression of burglary, robbery, auto theft, and attacking violent repressible crime.

“E” Platoon (Mounted Unit)

The "E" Platoon serves as both the LAPD's mounted police unit and the reserve unit of the Special Operations Bureau. The "E" platoon began as a volunteer/reserve officer program and was formally integrated into the Department in 1988. The platoon currently has 32 horses and is located in a state-of-the-art Ahmanson Equestrian Facility. Officers and their horses deploy on City streets or during special events and add to the Department’s professional image. Beyond that, the Mounted Platoon performs crime suppression duties and responds to crowd control incidents

“K-9” Platoon

The K-9 Platoon is the unit within the LAPD in charge of the training and use of K-9 dogs throught out Los Angeles. It deploys highly trained handlers and their canine partners to conduct searches and apprehend felony suspects. K-9 personnel are deployed around-the-clock, seven days a week. They are available to assist any Department entity with searches for felony suspects. Two K-9 officers have also been trained in search and rescue operations using dogs.

Liberty Award

The Liberty Award, an award for bravery, was created in 1990 and has only been awarded once in the Department's history. It is a medal for police dogs who are killed or seriously injured in the line of duty. The award is named after Liberty, a Metropolitan Division K-9 who was shot and killed in the line of duty. Liberty's handler received the Medal of Valor for the same incident. [citeweb|url=http://www.libertylib.com/lapd-swat.shtml|title=Liberty Medal]

.W.A.T. (“D” Platoon)

SWAT provides the Department with 24-hour coverage necessary for immediate response to barricaded suspects, snipers, crisis and hostage negotiations, potential suicide related situations, and other high-risk incidents. Rapid deployment, surprise, extensive tactics training and thorough planning are all parts of successful SWAT operations.

John Nelson was an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department who is considered to be one of the founding fathers of SWAT. His idea was presented to then-Inspector Darryl F. Gates in the 1960s and he gained approval to create a special weapons and tactics group to deal with unusual and difficult situations.

History of LAPD SWAT

While not the first to use specially-trained units, the LAPD was the first to form a specific S.W.A.T. unit, and originally created the term, "Special Weapons And Tactics". John Nelson was the LAPD officer who came up with the idea to form a specially trained and equipped unit in the LAPD, intended to respond to and manage critical situations involving shootings while minimizing police casualties. In 1967, Nelson's CO, then-Inspector Daryl F. Gates approved this idea, and he formed a small select group of volunteer officers. This first SWAT unit initially consisted of fifteen teams of four men each, for a total staff of sixty. These officers were given special status and benefits. They were required to attend special monthly training. This unit also served as a security unit for police facilities during times of civil unrest. cite web |url= http://www.lapdonline.org/metropolitan_division/content_basic_view/849|title= History of S.W.A.T.|accessdate=2008 07 05]

In 1971, the SWAT personnel were assigned on a full-time basis to Metropolitan Division to respond to continuing action by subversive groups, the rising crime rate and the continuing difficulty of mustering a team response in a timely manner. Metropolitan Division, which had a long-established reputation as the tactical unit of the Department, was reorganized into 6 units: "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", and "K-9" Platoons. The Special Weapons And Tactics Unit was given the designation of "D" Platoon, and at the same time formally adopted the acronym S.W.A.T.

The first significant deployment of LAPD's SWAT unit was on December 9, 1969, in a four-hour confrontation with members of the Black Panthers. The Panthers eventually surrendered, with three Panthers and three officers being injured. By 1974, there was a general acceptance of SWAT as a resource for the city and county of Los Angeles.

LA Incident

On the afternoon of May 17, 1974, elements of a group which called itself the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a group of heavily-armed leftists, barricaded themselves in a residence on East 54th Street at Compton Avenue in Los Angeles. Coverage of the siege was broadcast to millions via television and radio and featured in the world press for days after. Negotiations were opened with the barricaded suspects on numerous occasions, both prior to and after the introduction of tear gas. Police units did not fire until the SLA had fired several volleys of semi-automatic and fully automatic gunfire at them. In spite of the 3,772 rounds fired by the SLA, no uninvolved citizens or police officers sustained injury from gunfire.cite web |date=Updated October 12, 2001, 11:00 a.m. ET|url = http://www.courttv.com/trials/soliah/slahistory5_ctv.html|title = SLA: The shootout|publisher = [http://www.courttv.com Court TV] | accessdate = 2007-08-18 |quote=Perry and Hall exited the house, but were shot by officers who concluded they were trying to kill police rather than surrender.]

During the gun battle, a fire erupted inside the residence. The cause of the fire is officially unknown, although police sources speculated that an errant round ignited one of the suspects' Molotov cocktails. Others suspect that the repeated use of tear gas grenades, which function by burning chemicals at high temperatures, started the structure fire. All six of the suspects suffered multiple gunshot wounds and perished in the ensuing blaze.

By the time of the SLA shoot-out, SWAT teams had reorganized into six 10-man teams, each team consisting of two five-man units, called elements. An element consisted of an element leader, two assaulters, a scout, and a rear-guard. The normal complement of weapons was a sniper rifle (apparently a .243-caliber bolt-action, judging from the ordnance expended by officers at the shootout), two .223-caliber semi-automatic rifles, and two shotguns. SWAT officers also carried their service revolvers in shoulder holsters. The normal gear issued them included a first aid kit, gloves, and a gas mask. In fact it was a change just to have police armed with semi-automatic rifles, at a time when officers were usually issued six-shot revolvers and shotguns. The encounter with the heavily-armed Symbionese Liberation Army, however, sparked a trend towards SWAT teams being issued body armor and fully automatic weapons of various types.

1997 North Hollywood Shootout

The North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily-armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Eugene Phillips, Jr. and Emil Matasareanu, and both SWAT and patrol officers in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on February 28, 1997. It began when responding North Hollywood Division patrol officers engaged Phillips and Matasareanu leaving a bank which the two men had just robbed. Ten officers and seven civilians sustained injuries before both robbers were killed."Shootout!"; The History Channel; Viewed July 8, 2008.] Phillips and Matasareanu had robbed several banks prior to their attempt in North Hollywood and were notorious for their heavy armament, which included automatic rifles.LAPD patrol officers, like most at the time, were typically armed with a 9mm Beretta or .45 caliber pistol on their person, with a 12-gauge shotgun available in their cars (Only SWAT officers were regularly equipped with automatic weapons). Phillips and Matasareanu carried fully-automatic AK-47 rifles, with ammunition capable of penetrating regular police body armor, and wore body armor of their own. Since most handgun calibers cannot penetrate body armor, patrol officers had a significant disadvantage until LAPD SWAT arrived with equivalent firepower and body armor; they also appropriated several semi-automatic rifles from a nearby firearms dealer to help even the odds, though by the time this began to happen, SWAT had already arrived. The incident sparked debate on the appropriate firepower for patrol officers to have available in similar situations in the future. [cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/tv/reviews/44893/44-minutes/|title=44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shootout|author=Cynthia Fuchs|date=2003-06-01|publisher=PopMatters|accessdate=2007-09-29|quote=The legal and cultural fallout of the crime had to do with just how much firepower the cops should be carrying, if outlaws find it so easy to purchase AK-47s at gun shows.Fact|date=October 2007]

Randal Simmons

Infobox police officer
name = Randal David Simmons


caption = Randal Simmons
born = Birth date|1956|07|22
died = death date and age|2008|02|07|1956|07|22
badgenumber = 22885
placeofbirth = Los Angeles, California
placeofdeath = Winnetka, California
nickname = Randy
department = Los Angeles Police Department
service = United States
serviceyears = 27
rank = Sworn in as an officer - 1981
- Senior Lead Officer
awards = Randal "Randy" David Simmons (July 22, 1956 – February 7, 2008) was the first member of the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT team to be killed in the line of fire in its 40-year history (although another officer died in a training accident in 1998).Richard Winton, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, and Andrew Blankstein. [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-standoff8feb08,0,2657114.story Sniper shot gunman as he tried to flee.] "Los Angeles Times," 7 February 2008.] Simmons was shot and killed by a barricaded suspect, Edwin Rivera, in the city of Winnetka, California, located in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County in a standoff that injured another officer, and claimed the lives of five, including the suspect. His badge number was 22885, and he had been with the LAPD for twenty-seven years, [cite web |url=http://www.odmp.org/officer/19182-police-officer-randal-(randy)-simmons |title=Police Officer Randal (Randy) Simmons |accessdate=2008-04-04 |work=The Officer Down Memorial Page ] and had been with SWAT for over twenty. [http://www.randysimmonsswat.com/wordpress/obituary] ]

Simmons attended Fairfax Senior High School in Los Angeles and graduated from Washington State University, where he played football.He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the 1979 NFL draft before deciding to decline in an effort to tryout for the Dallas Cowboys. He was cut by the Cowboys before the regular season.

His funeral was attended by nearly 10,000 mourners and by police officers from around the world, the largest police officer funeral in both Los Angeles and United States history. [cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-funeral16feb16,1,1132851.story |title=Thousands pay tribute to officer who touched—and saved—lives |publisher="Los Angeles Times" |quote=Los Angeles Police Officer Randal Simmons was remembered in a tearful, three-hour ceremony attended by nearly 10,000 people, most of them police and other law enforcement officers. The funeral was the largest in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department. The officer's death hits a nerve. Residents line streets, and TV stations carry his funeral. |last=Rubin |first=Joel; Paloma Esquivel |date=February 16, 2008]

LAPD SWAT in Popular Culture

This kind of police unit quickly became well known with the premiere of the short-lived television series "SWAT" in the 1970s, which was panned as being overly violent and unrealistic with the characters regularly undergoing missions that rarely occur for actual teams. In 2003, the film "SWAT" starred Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell and LL Cool J, and was directed by Clark Johnson. The film was released in theaters as an update of the TV series, and was successful at the box office.

The "SWAT" series of computer games, created by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vivendi Universal and Irrational Games, started off as an interactive movie follow up of the Police Quest series, which was narrated by retired LAPD Chief Daryl Gates, and was continued as a real-time strategy game, and then three first person shooters similar to the Rainbow Six series. All but one, "SWAT 4", featured endorsements from the LAPD.Fact|date=September 2008

=Controversy=The LAPD's reaction to illegal immigrant rallies held on May 1, 2007 in MacArthur Park were a source of controversy for the department, and specifically Metro Division, which formed the majority of officers originally assembled on the scene. When several protesters began pelting LAPD officers with rocks, bottles, and other debris, police commanders declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and gave the command for the crowd to disperse. The order was broadcast from a police helicopter circling the park, from police cars, and from hand-held megaphones, before Metro Division police officers in full riot gear formed a line and advanced slowly to clear the area. The officers proceeded about 50 feet at a time, allowing those complying with the dispersal order to retreat.cite web | url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGIyODdjZGNhOWU5N2ZhNzg1Y2U0M2I5ODlmM2RlOTQ=| author=Jack Dunphy|title=May Day Madness|publisher=National Review Online|date=2007-05-03] However, the orders were given in English to a crowd of mostly Spanish-speaking demonstrators. cite web|author=Patrick McGreevy and Richard Winton|publisher=Los Angeles Times|title=Bratton issues report on melee|date=May 30, 2007|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd30may30,0,1732611.story?coll=la-home-center]

According to lawsuits filed, the LAPD had approximately 600 officers on the scene, while the group of protesters who threw "plastic water bottles and oranges" numbered about 40.cite web|title=Lawsuits Mount Over May Day Police Action In MacArthur Park|url=http://www.nbc4.tv/news/13292611/detail.html#|] Altogether, police fired 146 foam-rubber projectiles.cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mayday27may27,0,6024680.story?coll=la-home-local|title=Chief to explain police actions at rally|date=May 27, 2007|publication=Los Angeles Times|author=Patrick McGreevy and Richard Winton] 27 marchers and 9 members of the media were injured, 5 people were arrested,cite web|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070530-1712-ca-immigrationrally-clash.html|publisher=Associated Press|date=May 30, 2007|title=LAPD gets new tactics boss in wake of rally clash controversy] and at least 50 civilians filed complaints with the LAPD regarding mistreatment by officers.cite web|title=Probe sought of LAPD's May 1 use of force|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd18may18,1,2997330.story?ctrack=1&cset=true|firstr=Patrick|last= McGreevy|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=May 18, 2007] 7 to 15 police officers were injured.

Over a year later, on July 8, 2008, the LAPD announced

"that 17 officers and two sergeants from the department's elite Metropolitan Division should be punished for their roles in [the incident] " [cite web|publisher=Los Angeles Times|title=Officers in melee to face censure|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-melee9-2008jul09,0,709480,full.story|date=July 9, 2008|authors=Richard Winton, Anna Gorman and Scott Glover]

The recommended punishment was not publicized, and could range from a simple repremand to termination.

= Reference List =