Pacific Palisades residents might have noticed a new face in town’that of LAPD Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore, who took over Chris Ragsdale’s duties early last month. A Los Angeles native, Moore brings with him a passion for community policing and a range of experience dealing with everything from residential burglaries to the homeless population. He moved over from the Westwood/Bel Air District, where he decided he wanted to be a Senior Lead Officer while he was working on foot patrol in Westwood Village. He enjoyed being able to follow up with shop owners who would stop him on the street with their concerns. “If you take the time to communicate, you avoid getting complaints,” says Moore, 42, who became a Senior Lead about two-and-a-half years ago. He is familiar with the Palisades, having worked the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift here briefly as a patrol officer in the early 1990s. “It was fascinating back then,” he says. “Palisades Drive was not as developed. I would see deer standing on people’s lawns.” He started coming here again recently, before the official change, to reacquaint himself with the area. “I forgot how beautiful it is,” he says, adding that “although there are crime problems, they are fewer than in Westwood/Bel Air,” where the population in the hills is more dense than it is here. “The bottom line is that Chris [Ragsdale] got the raw end of the deal,” Moore says, in good humor. His job as Senior Lead Officer is “to communicate with the public and let them know what’s happening, to enlist their help in stopping crime and to find out what, in their area, they need help with.” Since Moore has been on duty here, locals have brought to his attention several issues of concern, from vehicular vandalism to the homeless camps between PCH and the Via de las Olas bluffs. He is also aware of speeding on Palisades Drive as well as a more unusual violation on the street’a strawberry vendor who stops on the way up to put up signs and parks his vehicle in areas that concern residents. “It seems that the No. 1 crime [in the Palisades] is burglary from vehicles, and stolen vehicles,” Moore says. The good news is that burglary from vehicles is easy to fix. “Don’t leave anything in your car,” Moore advises residents. “If you leave a penny on your dashboard, that’s an invitation [for criminals].” Moore is currently working with five Basic Car officers who help patrol the Palisades area. Some of the officers “have been working the [area] longer than I’ve been a Senior Lead Officer,” he says. “Right now, they know the problems better than I do.” Moore, who grew up in Westchester, began his police training as a young 25-year-old working for the Los Angeles Airports Police Department in 1988. Though he does not admit knowing he wanted to join the police force, he says, “I’ve been told that I knew.” Moore’s father was superintendent of operations at the Hollywood Bowl and knew a lot of police officers, who Moore says “left an impression on me.” After graduating from high school in 1981, Moore joined the Army Reserves for six years and worked as a chemical equipment repair person, training other reservists on how to protect and fix their equipment. He admits that there was a part of him interested in going into the movie production field, having studied drama in high school. “It must be something in the name,” he jokes, referring to the left-wing documentarian Michael Moore who wrote and directed “Fahrenheit 9/11.” “Every once in a while, I get the acting bug.” The basic training he received in the Reserves helped prepare him for the two years of law enforcement training he had to complete before becoming a police officer at LAX. He says that working as a young officer at the airport was frustrating because, at the time, “the airport was more concerned with traffic regulations than airport security. There were not as many criminals to get there.” Yet, the airport was “a good working environment to learn how to communicate and deal with people.” Public relations was ingrained as an important aspect of the job’an attitude that Moore says “was not reflected” by the officers who trained him when he joined the LAPD in 1990. That changed, he says, after the Rodney King beating in 1991. At the time of the beating, Moore was working the front desk at the Central Division downtown. “People were calling up and threatening my life,” he says. “I think the way the city handled the whole situation was what led to the riots. They [city officials] denounced the actions of the officers without investigating it first.” During his year and three months working as a probationer (a new police officer under the supervision of a training officer), Moore dealt with “just about any crime imaginable.” Mainly, the criminal activity involved homeless people who he says “one day, are victimized, and the next day, are the predators.” He adds that “It’s hard to turn a corner in downtown L.A. without coming across a drug deal.” Moore moved to the West L.A. Division in 1992 and started as a patrol officer, working the shoplifting detail in Westwood. He then became a training officer, teaching new officers how to do police work’everything from how to inspect a car to how to write a rape report. Now, as a Senior Lead Officer, he says that an important part of his job is attending community meetings. He tries to go to “as many as I can,” including at least one Palisades Community Council meeting a month. He plans to attend the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association meeting on April 25. Though Moore can’t be sure how long he will serve the Palisades community, he says, “In theory, I’ll be here for the rest of my career.” Realistically, he says, he’ll probably serve 10 to 13 more years as a Senior Lead. Moore does not intend to move up the ladder because that would mean spending more time away from his family, which he says is his main priority. Moore currently lives in El Segundo with his wife of 17 years and their two children, ages 13 and 9. He coaches his daughter’s AYSO team, and says proudly, “My daughter wants to play as long as I’m her coach.” Moore encourages residents to call him at 444-0737 or contact him by e-mail at 27995@lapd.lacity.org. “It doesn’t matter how big or small [the problem] or whether it’s a police problem or not,” he says.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
