LAPD Captain Gabaldon Speaks at Pacific Palisades Community Council Meeting

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

After assuming the role of Los Angeles Police Department west commanding officer in the beginning of July, Captain III Richard Gabaldon introduced himself to Pacific Palisades Community Council during its virtual meeting on Thursday evening, September 14.

“I’ve always wanted to work West LA, I never really had the opportunity as an officer or as a sergeant or as a lieutenant,” Gabaldon said. “Then, then when this opportunity came and Chief [Michel] Moore asked me if I would take over the command, I was very excited.”

Gabaldon took over for Craig Heredia, who is now a captain of the Hollywood Division. Heredia had been in the role since fall 2022, when Jonathan Tom was promoted to commander of LAPD West Bureau.

As captain of LAPD’s West LA Community Police Station, Gabaldon serves Bel Air, Sawtelle, Westwood and more, in addition to the Palisades and Brentwood.

Gabaldon, who was born and raised in Torrance, is a 29-year veteran of LAPD. He graduated from USC in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and criminal justice.

Since joining LAPD in 1994, Gabaldon has worked several assignments in several divisions, beginning with his probationary period in Pacific Division before heading to Southwest Division, where he worked as a patrol officer, CRASH officer and field training officer, according to his bio.

In 2000, Gabaldon went to Metropolitan Division, where he worked crime suppression. Two years later, he was promoted to sergeant at Harbor Area, which spanned for 10 years.

“I made lieutenant in 2012,” Gabaldon explained. “They wheeled me to Hollywood, which was a little bit of a drive. I said to myself I’d only be there for six months and ended up staying there almost eight years.”

Moore promoted Gabaldon to commanding officer of North Hollywood Patrol Division in February 2020, the bio continued. He was working the Force Investigation Division, where he handled categorical use of forces and officer-involved shootings for two and a half years, until Moore called him at the end of June.

“It’s my sincere hope that I’m here for the rest of my career,” Gabaldon said. “In your guys’ neighborhood, there’s not so much the violent crime, but there are crime challenges with the property crime, the burglaries, the [grand theft auto] and [burglary/theft from motor vehicles].”

Gabaldon added that it’s a “huge swath of area”—especially the Palisades. Toward the end of July, Gabaldon explained, he did a ride-along with LAPD Senior Lead Officer for Pacific Palisades Brian Espin.

“I was really taken aback by how big an area it is and how few resources we have to cover that area,” Gabaldon described. “On the plus side, the crime is low in that area. On the minus side, if something major happens, such as a fire or major incident, that’s going to take a long time for us to get our resources out there.”

Gabaldon said that he does not plan to make any “wholesale changes,” that Tom and Heredia “did an outstanding job of setting up systems that were working.” He said he plans on keeping the Beach Detail, possibly even bulking it from four to six officers in the summertime.

“My goal is to keep at least that basic car up there,” Gabaldon added, “until the last resort if we have to pull it out for some major emergency in the division.”

Gabaldon also said that he has roots in the Palisades: A close friend of his family lived on Alma Real, so he shared stories of playing as a kid in town, hiking in the community and eating at Mort’s.

For the remainder of his presentation at the PPCC meeting, Gabaldon took questions from board and audience members, including one from Area 4 Representative Karen Ridgley, who posed a question regarding how LAPD is doing in terms of hiring new officers and what the number in the police force is currently.

“We’re just over 9,000 officers,” Gabaldon responded of LAPD, “which is extremely low.”

Three years ago, he continued, LAPD had about 9,800 officers and is now budgeted for 9,500. Monthly classes for recruits, which are designed for 60 attendees, are averaging about 30. Factoring in things like officers who are on permanent light duty and those who have been injured on the job, Gabaldon estimated LAPD is at about 7,500 deployable bodies.

Gabaldon explained that LAPD is having a hard time recruiting and is also competing with different agencies that offer “huge bonuses,” but the department did come up with a new contract, which gives “officers and new officers substantial raises.”

“Since then, our applicant pool for the month of August, after that contract was signed, has gone way up to where we think we’re going to be able to start averaging about 50 officers per class for the rest of the fiscal year, which runs through July,” Gabaldon said.

PPCC Chair Maryam Zar ended the discussion by explaining that Brentwood and the Palisades are hopefully teaming up for a joint public safety meeting, where people can hear more from Gabaldon and other LAPD officers.