Commander Gisselle Espinoza
Historic, once-in-a-lifetime and even epic are not strong enough words to describe the effort and results of Los Angeles reserve police officers assisting, side by side, French municipal police officers as they kept the streets of Paris safe during the Olympics.
The Los Angeles Police Department has never participated in a detail of this nature, and putting this together took a Herculean effort. Bernard Khalili, Trevor Ingold and Wade Danielson tirelessly worked on this for months, practically around the clock. There is a nine-hour time difference between Los Angeles and France, and these three did not let the coordination of the trip get in the way of their full-time jobs or sleep. Thank you, Bernard, Trevor and Wade. Sergeant Johnson was the only full-time officer to accompany the 30 reserves and was the only on-scene supervisor. That is a difficult task when your officers are spread out across the city, serving in three different divisions.
Often, we forget the love and support this Department has on the world stage, and this experience validated the respect LAPD has earned. Wherever our officers patrolled, citizens from around the world wanted photographs of themselves posed next to someone wearing our badge (and at times, the badge alone!). This feeling of admiration did not end with civilians. Law enforcement officers from around the world were equally excited to take selfies or group photos. Our Reserve Corps became the ambassadors of the LAPD and could not have done a better job.
Some of the 30 officers attended the entire two weeks of the Olympics, some the first week and others the last week. This experience will never be replicated, but it was work: 12-hour shifts three to four days in a row, in rain and/or in heat. This was no vacation! No matter how much time each of those officers spent representing this Department, thank you. Thank you for sacrificing your company vacation time, time with your families and time (and money) from your paying jobs. Thank you also to the Reserve Foundation for mitigating your expenses.
Los Angeles is host to the 2028 Olympic Games, and the 2026 World Cup before then. Our reserve officers returned from Paris having been a part of a massive deployment of French municipal, federal and army reserve officers, and integrated with foreign officers from over 40 different international agencies. The lessons learned can serve this Department well as we prepare for these two major events. It is also an example of what can be done when a group of reserves are mobilized. The Los Angeles Police Department needs more reserves and needs your help in identifying good candidates. Please direct all possible candidates to LAPDreserve.com or Sergeant Johnson.
The LAPD Reserve Corps will be critical in 2026 and 2028, but it is also a critical resource right now, to help fill in the current LAPD staffing gap. The Department needs all of you to be in compliance
in order to deploy. Please check with your reserve coordinator or Sergeant Johnson to make sure you are maintaining your eligibility to serve.
Again, I and the entire Command Staff wish to express our gratitude for your service, not only to our city but on the global stage as well. You’ve represented the best of the best admirably. Congratulations on a job well done. Let’s all be proud of what the Corps can do.