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Creating a New Patrol District Structure for LAPD

The LAPD Basic Car Study, conducted by the Matrix Consulting Group, reevaluated the geographic deployment of LAPD’s patrol resources to resolve inefficiencies and meet evolving community needs. The study identified critical challenges in workload imbalance, resource allocation, and alignment with community boundaries, and implemented actionable solutions to enhance public safety and service effectiveness.

Challenge

The Los Angeles Police Department’s existing geographic deployment structure – the Basic Car Plan – was originally designed to foster community-police relationships through assigned patrol areas. However, several decades later, across a changing service landscape, the Basic Car Plan struggled to meet modern demands. Analysis revealed significant disparities in call volumes and resource availability across divisions, with 77 of 168 areas experiencing workloads at least 20% above or below average. Additionally, boundaries often divided neighborhoods, disrupting cohesive service.

Proactive policing was limited, with officer availability for such activities falling short of the 40% goal, particularly during peak periods. The department’s resource allocation model, Patrol Plan, also lacked transparency and flexibility, hampering equitable and efficient deployment.

Solution

The study resulted in a redesigned Basic Car Plan, expanding the number of areas to 202 and realigning boundaries to better reflect community integrity and workload distribution.

Key recommendations included:

  • Transitioning to a workload-based resource allocation model.
  • Implementing civilian responders to handle non-emergency calls, increasing patrol officers’ proactive time through diversion.
  • Consolidation of certain specialized units like vice and gang enforcement at the bureau level, optimizing resources for patrol services.

Outcome

These changes achieved more balanced service delivery, strengthened community relations, and improved operational efficiency—demonstrating LAPD’s commitment to modernizing its approach to public safety.