On Tuesday, March 5, The Los Angeles Police Department Pacific Division took me for the 12-hour shifts with two sergeants. The first segment of the day was with Sgt. Thomas Trandal, a veteran of the force, has been with the department since 2001. Before the shift began, Trandal showed me around the department, revealing sights not often seen by the public. The kit room where officers receive their keys and weapons, the jail, the records room, and the bureau for each task force. As we located his desk, he said, “This is where half the magic happens.” Eventually, after the tour, we get into our 2018 Ford Police Interceptor Utility and begin the shift.
The day started quietly with routine calls for backup on traffic stops, cars without license plates, and other noncriminal offenses. “As a supervisor, I don’t necessarily pull people over or any smaller incidents,” Trandal said. The first notable incident that we had responded to was a possible drug overdose. Within a few minutes, we arrived at the scene: the fourth floor of an apartment complex in Mar Vista. Behind a closed bedroom door adorned with a tapestry lay a 35-year-old male, likely passed away from an accidental meth overdose. The man lay in a fetal position, clenching what appeared to be a vape pen.
Meanwhile, the man’s former roommates are seated on a futon in the main living room. The two had just returned from out-of-town hours before finding their roommate in an odd position. “We called 911, and they told us not to move him… and then we realized at that moment.” The former’s immediate family could not be contacted as they were either in Florida or at an unknown location, unbeknownst to all.
Eventually, the other officers on the scene called the LA County Coroner’s Office to conduct a proper autopsy and investigate further.
A few minutes later, after the call, Trandall and I departed. Trandal had yet to have lunch, so we had to return to the station for a lunch break.
During the lunch break, Trandall said, “Being a copper has its perks, especially the pay.” As Trandall scarfed down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, he played Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio as he multitasked and did some paperwork. “I usually do this to piss off LT..” Trandal had told me that during his breaks, he frequently plays music to make the time go by. Besides eating, Trandal had to take care of some other material that a detained subject requested he spoke to him about denying a warrant, and a, member of the public wanted a follow-up for an investigation. While Trandal was taking care of those matters, other officers spoke about frivolous incidents that had happened to them while on call.
“ There was a time in which we used pepper spray on this guy who channeled his inner Ace Ventura and started talking out of his ass,” said Sgt Jin Kwon. One officer tells the story of a suspect’s eyeball that fell out as a result of a 40mm rubber pellet during a pursuit. Another officer shared the story of a call from a screaming woman who later turned out to be a few individuals shooting a pornographic film.
After the lunch break, Trandal decided to drive around the jurisdiction seeing if any calls would ring out. “Let’s pay your campus a visit and then see what else is going down”. After getting back into the patrol vehicle, a call of a domestic disturbance comes through. After arriving on scene, the call was later unfounded resulting in the call being disposed of.
Twenty minutes later we returned to the station. After a quick restroom break, Trandal says, “ Let’s show you some of our equipment”. Inside the trunk of the squad car are: crime scene tape, stop sticks, flares, an m4 carbine, and a nonlethal shotgun with 40mm pellets. The late afternoon lack of incidents allowed this opportunity to present itself.
As Trandal’s shift ended he left in rather a hurry as he had to pick up his kids from practice. Due to his tenure and greater camaraderie with the rest of his staff, Trandal permitted me to stay for part of the “graveyard shift,” which LAPD calls “Watch 3”.
Typically over the weekends, crime on the Westside seems to skyrocket as typically there are more likely to be burglaries on Fridays. To understand what is really happening here is a look from a couple weekends ago.
Police code:
415:Disturbance call
459:Burglary
5150:Mental Health Service call:
Friday, April 12th, 2024 unfolded with a series of critical incidents across the city, the police scanner crackling with urgency from dawn till dusk.
At 10:49 AM, a robbery was reported at 3395 Livonia Avenue. The suspect had already fled when LAPD arrived.
By 11:36 AM, the drama escalated on the intersection of 96th and Sepulveda. A distraught man, seemingly unhinged, darted into traffic and scaled the center divider, narrowly escaping the rush of oncoming vehicles. His erratic behavior hinted at a mental health crisis, a possible 5150 under California law.
The afternoon brought no respite. At 5:19 PM, Sepulveda & Venice was the stage for a terrifying display as a man brandished a gun in the air. Both the Culver City Police Department and LAPD responded swiftly. However, the suspect had vanished by the time they secured the area.
A call for officer assistance punctuated the evening at 6:30 PM at 8200 Kentwood. A reported stolen vehicle set off a frantic search by both Culver City PD and LAPD, initially to no avail. The breakthrough came when the vehicle owner spotted the thieves changing clothes near the stolen car. After a coordinated effort involving air and ground units, the suspect was apprehended.
The night’s tension peaked with an emergency landing at LAX at 8:30 PM. A United Airlines aircraft was affected by hydraulic problems shortly after takeoff, and returned to the airport, thankfully without incident.
The following day, April 13th, continued in a similar vein. At 8:50 AM, a potential assault at National & Sepulveda saw the LAPD scrambling to a scene already deserted by the involved parties. Less than an hour later, at 900 Venezia Avenue, a man wielding a wrench attacked passing vehicles in a dangerous display of aggression.
Midday at 8000 Sepulveda, a DUI incident resulted in a vehicle colliding with a tree. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to treat the driver, who was found in satisfactory condition despite the circumstances, but arrested for driving under the influence.
The afternoon’s events escalated at 2:30 PM at 10845 Wilkins Avenue. A transient, after pulling a knife at a local CVS, barricaded himself in a nearby house. An intense standoff ensued, drawing a large police presence, including SWAT and K9 units, culminating in the suspect’s arrest after three and a half hours.
The day’s climax occurred at 10:16 PM at 4011 Via Marina, where reported gunfire led to a significant law enforcement operation involving multiple units and air support. The suspect, heavily armed and reportedly live streaming the event, was detained after a tense confrontation lasting until nearly 1 AM.
April 14th began with another bizarre incident at 8:09 AM at Centinela & Culver, where a man in a wheelchair obstructed traffic and then disappeared before authorities could intervene.
The afternoon brought more violence at 2:19 PM on 3548 Military Avenue, where a man armed with a shotgun prompted an urgent response from law enforcement amidst a nearby suicide attempt.
Later that day, at 6:42 PM, a robbery at 8516 Lincoln Blvd saw an LMU student stripped of their cellphone, capping off a wild weekend.
In the interim, I waited in the station for the next sergeant to take me along. An hour would pass until I would meet Sgt. Paul Gebhardt. Gebhardt, much newer to the department, joining in 2013, has made his rounds from all divisions. “ I’ve been here at Pacific for four months. I worked for Vice and Gangs in Hollywood, and now I’m here.” Gebhardt allowed me to attend the roll call. Roll call was a unique experience in which roll was called and the room full of officers stood up and said the names of their partners. Afterward, Sergeant Luis Pinell spoke to the room. “Make sure to be certain when you stop people… there are no more pretextual stops”.
Gebhardt backed the statement by saying, “We need to articulate the reason for the stop… don’t leave the people in the dark. Gebhardt demonstrated the safety and quality check of the squad car by making sure all important features, from the lights to the in-car video, were operational. As that was completed we departed the station, awaiting calls. An hour later, a welfare call was received. Due to the severity of the matter, as the individual was cutting themselves with a blade of glass, alongside other units, we responded with Code 3, lights, and sirens. As we arrived on the scene the entire neighborhood block was gathered overseeing this large-scale police response and within minutes, paramedics arrived. Gebhardt spoke to the public about the matter: “It’s just a call that would require mental evaluation”. After the call was completed, Gebhardt showed me how to conclude a call by uploading body camera footage to the call software and “dispo-ing it”. Following that Gebhardt needed his late evening coffee fix as we headed to Starbucks. After getting our fix, there was another supervisor’s request as there was a report of another dead body. “I have to respond to this to see if they know the SOP”. After requesting coroner services once more we returned to the station to complete more paperwork on pretextual stops.
The night continued to be oddly quiet until just before 11 PM when a call of a shooting at a bar had rung out. “That might not be our jurisdiction, ” Gebhardt had said about the location. The restaurant was at a crossroads of the LA Sheriff’s Department as it was within proximity to Marina Del Rey and neighboring that of Culver City Police Department as well as LAPD. “Half the restaurant is in our area and half is in yours, I’m not sure,” said a Culver City Police officer”. All units from all departments assisted in the effort to make sense of the chaos. LAPD had many units on the scene which assisted with traffic control and Culver City provided its first responders. While the description of the subject was known at the time, an airship was requested to further the search for the vehicle and aforementioned subject. The characteristic red and blue lights lit up Washington Blvd as the owner of the Behind Closed Doors bar arrived in a tan-colored Bentley. Numerous media outlets and independent stringers would be on the scene within minutes filming the greater commotion. Eventually, the chaos died down as it was revealed that there was a subject shot in the neck and the condition of the subject is rather unknown.
Finally, after everything dissipated, Gebhardt and I returned to the station, effectively ending our shift and a rollercoaster ride of 12.5 hours with the LAPD.
