Port Police on Patrol: By Land, Sea and Air

The Los Angeles Harbor Department’s Port Police never know what they will encounter, or where. It could be a drug smuggler among the maze of pleasure boats bobbing in one of the 18 marinas in their jurisdiction, or--as in one case--it could be a terrified pig swimming in the ocean. (They figured it fell overboard off a ship from the South Seas.)

The 47 officers of the Harbor Department’s law enforcement arm, technically classified as deputy port wardens, are responsible for keeping the peace in 11 square miles of city territory along 28 miles of waterfront. They patrol all of Terminal Island and parts of Wilmington and San Pedro, including Ports o’ Call and the big new Cabrillo Marina, which harbor officials predict will rival Marina del Rey.

Not only are the officers expected to battle high and low crimes in their jurisdiction, but also to enforce safety laws affecting ships in the harbor as well as regulations governing water skiers, swimmers and rowboat adventurers. The port cops control harbor traffic on land and sea, conduct aboard-ship inspections and patrol by helicopter to detect water pollution.

“We work in a kind of relaxed atmosphere,” said Sgt. Ron Boyd, a 29-year-old former Los Angeles Police Department officer who joined the port force five years ago. “You need to be a different sort of cop out here, kind of laid-back. People come to places down here to have a good time. Sometimes you forget there’s a real world out there with real criminals in it. But the atmosphere can change instantly. And you have to be on guard because you’re in for a rude awakening.”