The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is the second largest municipal law enforcement agency in the nation. Our patrol stations provide protection to Los Angeles County residents from Catalina Island to the Antelope Valley, and from the wilderness of the Angeles National Forest to the hustle-bustle of L.A.’s inner city. The Sheriff’s Department serves as the primary police agency for more than 2.9 million residents. Of those, more than 1.8 million reside in our contract cities.

The Sheriff’s Department is responsible, by charter, to provide municipal police services to the one million residents in the unincorporated communities throughout Los Angeles County. In addition, forty of the county’s eighty-eight cities contract with the Sheriff’s Department to provide local police protection. These cities, ranging in population from 700 to 175,000, and in size from 1 to 100 square miles, represent very diverse communities with equally diverse needs. The Sheriff’s Department works closely with each of these communities to provide a level of service that reflects those individual needs. Services can be provided on a regional basis with other communities, with the benefits of cost sharing, or on a fully dedicated basis.