Sierra Madre to contract with LASD

I saw the following notice put out by City of Sierra Madre today;

Sierra Madre Police Department would like to announce our partnership with the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Beginning Sunday, February 28th, they will be in charge of handling patrol responses between 6pm and 6am until further notice. Sierra Madre Police will resume normal duties in the City from 6am to 6pm.
The Sierra Madre Police Department would to express deep gratitude to our partners in law enforcement for assisting us. Please be sure to say hello and welcome our brothers and sisters into our amazing little community.

Digging a little deeper I have come to learn that the budgeted 20 officer Sierra Madre Police Department has lost 9 of its officers over the last half year and no longer can provide 24/7 patrol coverage in the city.

Sierra Madre apparently reached out to several adjacent cities and had reached an agreement with Arcadia for patrol services which fell through at the last minute which has now led to securing services from the LASD. The LASD contract calls for them to provide City of Sierra Madre with two dedicated patrol units.

I presume its LASD Altadena will be helping provide this coverage.

Based upon the May 2015 LASO proposal for providing full police services to the city, it should be handled out of the Temple station. The proposal can be viewed here: http://www.cityofsierramadre.com/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=279535

LA Flyer thanks for posting that info.

Temple Station will be covering Sierra Madre, and it's pretty safe to wager LASD will be provider 24/7 in the not too distant future being that the city council had already agreed to go ahead with the very detailed oriented Phase Two study.

I know there has been as you would expect from any small city a lot moaning and sqwaking about the LASD will npt provide good personal service, but I think the PD ranks are depleted and prosects of hiring good cops is so grim that they are well past tne point of no return for that agency. Once those patrols begin and you can bet the proper LASD personnel will be selected to start, resistance at City Hall will crumble.

The Arcadia Chief had already agreed he was okay with responding to urgent only calls at night, no patrols at $100 an hour but a councilman killed that idea by saying the north end car already had enough on its plate due to a significant spike in crime in that area and needed to focus on Arcadia.issues.

Sounds like from the previous post they are going to get more coverage (two deputies) then Arcadia might have given and will be able to stop relying on off-duty LAPD cops to cover so m

The root of the problem here was citizens in a wll-to-do city wanting Nordstroms service at Walmart prices with pay 30-40% lower than nearby agencies and the resulting revolving door and extensive lawsuits because of lower standards.

Will LASO handle traffic accidents as well or will that go to CHP?


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LASD would be responsible for traffic matters in Sierra Madre under the contract.

All incorporated cities in the state are responsible for traffic matters inside their boundaries including on all state highways (example SR 1 PCH,, not a CHP in Malibu), with three exceptions,

a) CHP handles traffic on controlled access roadways throughout the entire state, defined further as freeways and associated ramps.

b) Accidents involving school buses when loaded with passengers.

c) by a special exception contained in a local MOU (The only exception I am aware of was the Long Beach Fwy south of Pacific Coast Hwy was a city PD handle up until sometime abouit a decade ago because that section of the road was built by and owned by the city and not the state, though CALTRANS and CHP have assumed responsibility in recent years.

It will be interesting to see what the unit numbers on the air will be. Maybe 59? All the pairs for Temple station 5 are taken besides 56 and 59. There will also be a Sierra Madre PD dispatcher working overnight to take calls and man the walk in desk. The deputies may also carry an APX so they can talk to that dispatcher on the Sierra Madre PD channel on the ICI System.

The 2 one man radio cars working Sierra Madre 6PM to 6AM are 56 and 56A. They are not in communication with the dispatcher on duty at the SMPD station. All calls and radio traffic are routed through normal LASD systems.

one would think Altadena station would handle it. Temple is a long hoof away. Plus temple freq is busy, Altadena not so much. I wonder if LASO will provide sierra made marked cars like temple city and Duarte?

Also I would imagine LASO will provide a traffic car...with radar. 56 and 56T.

As of now the contract for LASD is 4 months, most likely to be extended. Sierra Madre falls under Temple stations umbrella for a few reasons, mainly that it is located in their area. Temple already covers Duarte, Bradbury, East Pasadena (unincorporated) Monrovia/Arcadia/Duarte 'MAD' (unincorporated) and up to Chantry Flats. Temple also has the manpower to add a couple units overnight easily. Altadena is basically a substation of Crescenta Valley and wouldn't be able to provide the services as easily. Taking a prisoner to CV station jail would be further away than Temple.

SM is paying 98K per month for the 2 deputies/2 cars overnight and can't afford to pay more for traffic units or a sergeant, etc.

Partially related, and just for clarification, is Temple Station referring to Temple City?

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drsn0w said:

Partially related, and just for clarification, is Temple Station referring to Temple City?

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Click to expand...

Yes

LASD Temple Station IS located in Temple City.

scottyhetzel said:

one would think Altadena station would handle it. Temple is a long hoof away. Plus temple freq is busy, Altadena not so much. I wonder if LASO will provide sierra made marked cars like temple city and Duarte?

Also I would imagine LASO will provide a traffic car...with radar. 56 and 56T.

Click to expand...

LASD will provide whatever combination of service the city asks for as long as it meets what LASD deems acceptable minimum coverage. (They wouldn't allow Compton years ago to make big cuts, and then drain other areas when it got busy for example.)

The absence of a T car is not unique on early morning shift.

When I was at SCC, Lomita did not field one for the entire station on earlies (22[-06 hours) , which was 4 cities, and I believe one or more cities on the valley side didn't either opting to deploy two[-man cars instead.

So there is a fairly consistent contract city deployment method, but it is not written in stone.

LASD has two units assigned to Sierra Madre... 56 & 56A.... 1800-0600...

Temple City? Substation

cmdrwill said:

LASD Temple Station IS located in Temple City.

Click to expand...

And it always has been there since opening in 1926, and it was numbered Substation #5, hence its patrol cars have their "5__" radio callsigns even today, 90 years later. (Though they didn't even get radios for another decade, when LAPD started dispatching for them).

This morning I found an interesting tidbit about the station name, though. In late 1949 the County Board of Supervisors gave the Sheriff authorization for its name to be changed to "Temple City Sheriff's Substation," and a photograph taken on December 7, 1949 has legendary Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz (never one to hide from a camera) climbing up a ladder carrying part of the new sign. This was when the station was at 110 S Sunset Blvd, which is now a parking lot on renamed Temple City Blvd just south of Las Tunas.
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What I haven't found yet is when it got changed back, but it was definitely before the new station opened on Las Tunas w/of Rosemead in 1956. But the patrol unit numbers are still in the 50-series.
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Anyone hear the 56 units in Sierra Madre? Just wanted to get some follow up to the situation there?

Yes I have been hearing traffic to them as well as seeing them in the area after 6pm.


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I periodically hear traffic for units 56, 56A, and one time a 56B.

I wouldn't expect much to happen in one of the counties Mayberry's.

Sierra Madre PD is resuming 24 hr. patrol tonight after 9 months of contracting with LASD for 6PM to 6AM. During that time new hires were trained during the day to fill the ranks. Time to dust off and recharge the flashlights.