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Z Ortilla
English 115
Professor Lawson
26 October 2016
Analysis Essay Final Draft
Word Count: 1450
Lost Angels
Having a population of approximately 10 million people, Los Angeles County has
become one of the most populous and dangerous cities across the nation. According to LAPD
data and reporter, Ben Poston, with homicide rates rising to 24%, suicide rate of 8 people of
every 100,000, and overall violent crimes which includes homicide, robbery, aggravated
assault, and rape is up 19.9%, LAPD does not allow ride-alongs to normal citizens anymore;
it is now limited to LAPD Junior Cadets and LAPD Cadets. The difference between LAPD
Junior Cadets and LAPD Cadets is LAPD Junior Cadets is a leadership program targeting teens
ages 13-21 in order to familiarize them into the LAPD family, while LAPD Cadets are the people
who have applied to the academy and are training to be an officer in the Los Angeles Police
Department. Since I am an LAPD Junior Cadet, I am lucky enough to experience a ride-along.
Creating a subculture, the Los Angeles Police Department ride-alongs provide insights on typical
crimes in connection to behavior and criminal analysis around Los Angeles for LAPD Junior
Cadets and/or LAPD Cadets before becoming a police officer.
Los Angeles Police Department is divided into four bureaus: Central, Valley, West, and
South. Within those bureaus are divisions, Topanga and West Valley Division (Valley Bureau) are
the two divisions covered in this essay. Topanga and West Valley used to be just West Valley, but

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West Valley officers could not get to their destinations in time, due to a very large area, so LAPD
had to divide it in half, which resulted from Topanga Division being the newest division. For
example, it usually would take a police officer to get to the designated 911-call in three to four
minutes, however, with West Valley being so big, it would take police officers six to seven
minutes. As a result, Topanga Division was born and I became a member of the LAPD Junior
Cadets, and was granted to be in a ride-along. In these intense 12 hours1 of my experience of
being in a ride-along with LAPD, and seeing tragedy in picket fenced houses or what seems like
a nice apartment, two suicide attempts, one aggravated assault, and one homicide are highlighted
in this essay.23
A wedding proposal took an unexpected turn when it turned to a (light) suicide attempt. When
Josh proposed to Ava in a crowded restaurant, and she immediately said no, Josh walked out of
the restaurant and started walking into on-coming traffic. Thankfully, Josh did not get hit by any
of the cars. He proceeded to walk away, as if he was trying to walk away from his heartbreak.
After a couple of hours of not hearing back from Josh, Ava reported to the police that Josh is
missing and borderline suicidal. Soon enough, families of Josh and Ava called from parts around
of the city; some even drove to Avas house only to find out what happened. Then, when families
got to the scene, fingers were pointed to Ava. In a personal interview, Ava said that she became
the bad guy in this case. In the eyes of Joshs family, [Ava] couldve just said yes [when
Josh proposed,] he is the nicest dude I know, said Joshs cousin. They kept telling her if only
[Ava] just said yes, this shit wouldnt have happened! Because of [her], my son could be dead,
said Joshs father. While Avas family defended her, it did not make the situation better. Instead
1 From Friday (August 26, 2016) 21:00 to Saturday (August 27, 2016) 09:00
2 The names of the victims, witnesses, and suspects have been changed in order to protect them
or respect their privacy.
3 Every following paragraph will be a different case or crime scene.

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of assessing the conflict in the right way and trying to find Josh, everyone started pointing
fingers as for who is to blame. Everyone turned into bad guys. The sense of community
between the two families was soon divided; unfortunately, it was never restored.
In this picket-fenced house, one would think that the Smith family was the ideal family of
all. Bob, Mary, and their son, Mike, were living the upper-middle class life of the century, or so it
seems. No one would ever think that within the white picket-fenced house were a rope, chair, and
the colors of black and blue. Mike was ready to kill himself in order to save Mary (and himself)
from the physical and emotional abuse they get from Bob. Mary would have never thought of
reporting Bob to the police due to Stockholm syndrome (common for domestic abuse victims),
but Mike knew she would never turn a blind eye to her child. As police pull up in the Smiths
house, the only thing louder than the police sirens was Mary. The sound of a mothers cry was
the worst of it all; it is a sound no one can forget. Outside, neighbors stood by, watched, and
some were interrogated. Most of them told the police that they had no idea that the Smith family
was so unhappy, but some had their suspicions. Nonetheless, they supported Mary and Mike, and
helped them through the healing process. Unlike Avas case, a sense of good, helpful community
was born out of evil. People came together and made sure Bob paid for his sins.
Being stripped from his job, drivers license (due to a DUI), best friend, and wife is
Marios worst nightmare. However, only this time, he is awake and with a gun. Soon after he lost
his job, got his drivers license taken away, and his wife to his best friend, Jose, Mario was ready
to kill Jose for taking the one last thing standing in his life. According to Mario, he used to have
a good life; he was a hard-working construction worker trying very hard to be promoted so he
could provide a better apartment or environment for him and his wife. Everything started going
downhill when he got in a fight (with someone he always disliked) while he was working, and

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got fired due to certain injuries he caused. With his wife barely affording the rent and food, she
left him for his best friend. Another reason as to why she left him was because she could not
conceive with Mario for he was sterile. Mario resided to drinking alcohol day in and day out,
leading him to depression and having suicidal thoughts. He was so angry at the world and God.
He said that he was going to kill himself right after he kills Jose. Thankfully, the police arrived
just in time to contain the situation. Not having friends and family to reside into, he soon became
isolated from society; Mario was made into a criminal. Mario was stripped down from his own
society (job, wife, friends), leading to criminal behavior and suicidal and homicide thoughts.
In this case, the scent of Death smelled like a landfill filled with rotten flesh. Homicide
detectives brewed coffee in order to avoid the smell of Eugenes decaying body. He was killed
through asphyxiationplastic over his head, and was left alone to deteriorate in his closed
apartment on a hot summer day for 25 hours. Witnesses say that Eugene was selling drugs to two
suspects, but ended up dead on the floor instead. The apartment in which he lived in was filled
with drug addicts, and Eugene was one of their dealers. Everybody stayed away from each other
due to most of them being addicts, but still had a connection between them, so they became a
community by default. There are no personal connections between this society. No one was
really sad because Eugene died; they were probably sad that they have to find another dealer
now.
Being 500 square miles, Los Angeles County as a whole was destined to have one of the
highest crime rates due to its populous characteristic. Whether it is a house, apartment, or
restaurant, the events going on in these places could be unrequited love, domestic violence, or
drug related, which can all lead to crime or suicide. When looking at the macro scale of
situations, suicides are just suicides and homicides are just homicides. However, when looking

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through the micro scale of situations, these crimes have stories and roots behind them.
Sociologists believe that the environment (family, friends, geographical location, etc.) one is in is
the main factor to ones behavior. No one wakes up one morning and, out of nowhere, decides to
talk to Death. Sometimes, people wake up, and they find out that they are a little lost. People are
not born to be criminals or suicidal; instead, they are made to be criminals or suicidal.

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Works Cited
Ava. Personal Interview. 15 Oct. 2016.
Mario. Personal Interview. 14 Oct. 2016.
Mike. Personal Interview. 27 Aug. 2016.
Poston, Ben. "Crime in Los Angeles Rose in All Categories in 2015, LAPD Says." Los Angeles
Times. Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2015. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.