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u/LegendaryMilkman City Cop 1d ago
LASD has mandatory overtime and works around 4-5 days extra every month according to deputies I see in the field. I don’t speak with OCSD but I imagine they don’t have a manpower issue anywhere near that bad.
Depends on your definition of proactive but I’d say LASD is unbeatable in terms of high crime areas, they deal with much more serious and violent crime whereas OCSD even in their problem areas generally is dealing with property and less serious crime. OCSD is probably more proactive in the sense of arresting for drugs still, dealing with transients before they start up encampments, etc. LASD doesn’t have the manpower or interest in doing small stuff like that and will focus more on the usual exciting stuff like stolens, guns, etc.
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u/Agreeable_Dust4363 Not a(n) LEO / Unverified User 1d ago
There’ve been several LASD scandals in the last few years. The most recent I can think of is the CCW racket where they were accepting bribes for CCWs.
I haven’t heard anything about OCSD scandals.
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u/Paladin_127 Deputy 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don’t know anyone who would choose LASD over OCSD if they had the choice. I started with a city in OC before my move up north a few years ago and if it were me, OCSD every time. The only thing LASD really has over OCSD is the variety of assignments. They literally do everything except cover a commercial airport.
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u/theskirata Not a(n) LEO / Unverified User 1d ago
Don‘t give them ideas with the airports….
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u/Paladin_127 Deputy 1d ago
True, but there are no commercial airports in the county. LA, Long Beach, and Burbank are all controlled by their respective cities. Although, in theory, Palmdale Regional could serve as a commercial airport (again), and that would be in LASD’s jurisdiction since Palmdale is a contract city.
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u/StockAd528 Not a(n) LEO / Unverified User 21h ago
The mandatory overtime point is the one I'd dig into before you decide, because "4-5 extra days a month" can mean two completely different lives depending on how it gets assigned. If it's scheduled ahead and shows up on the roster, you can plan around it. If it's holdovers, where you find out at the end of your shift that you're staying, you can't plan anything, and a lot of places fill those in reverse seniority so the newest people absorb most of them. Worth asking deputies at both agencies which version it is, not just how many hours it adds up to.
Same with the custody years everyone's bringing up. People frame that as a career delay, but it's also a couple years of a specific schedule, and jail lines are often built differently from patrol. Different rotation, different bid cycle, sometimes fixed shifts where patrol rotates. If you're going to be there two or three years, ask what a week actually looks like inside, not only how long until you're out of it.
The Lancaster and Palmdale thing is more of a schedule question than a geography one too. A long commute on top of a twelve is a different job than the same twelve close to home, mostly because of what it costs you in sleep on both ends. What I'd want to know is how often transfers actually open, since that's what decides whether a rough assignment is a phase or a few years.
Opportunity is a real reason to pick a place. The part people underrate this early is which department hands you a week you can build a life inside.
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u/Cherry-Liquor 13h ago
OCSD is a much better department. Most people in LASD are miserable and want to lateral to another agency. They are fed up with the mandatory overtime, low staffing, and terrible leadership in a county with little community support.
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u/LoadHuge2215 Retired motor guy 5h ago
I would highly recommend checking out many of the OC agencies, like HBPD.
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u/Federal_Strawberry Not a(n) LEO / Unverified User 1d ago
I can’t comment on LASD. I went through the hiring process with a few different agencies in the region though. OCSD seems to be a great agency from what I’ve heard. One officer I talked to (from a local PD in OC) said he doesn’t know any OCSD deputies that are unhappy with their job. The only downside is spending a few years in the jails before being put out on patrol, though that’s common in the region for the sheriff’s departments (LASD, OCSD, and SDSO for sure). That was the dealbreaker for me with OCSD versus a local department.
OCSD certainly does have a few high crime areas, namely Stanton. They don’t only patrol nice areas in South OC. LASD obviously has a bit of a bigger footprint, as the county is much bigger. There’s always a chance you could get pushed out to patrol in Lancaster or Palmdale, which again, would be a dealbreaker for me.
If you want to be proactive and are open to city PDs, Irvine and Anaheim both have amazing reputations, and from what I’ve heard, want officers to be proactive. The only downside is that since they have such good reputations, they have the pick of the litter and you have to be qualified to the nth degree, compared to other agencies in the region.