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Council honors LAPD Reserve Corps for Paris deployment; officers urge paid contract participation after volunteer hours
Summary
The council recognized LAPD reserve officers who served unpaid at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Reserve leaders urged the city to consider allowing reserves to accept paid contract assignments after they complete volunteer hours to boost capacity ahead of LA 2028.
Council members on April 4 recognized members of the Los Angeles Police Department Reserve Corps who volunteered at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and heard a request to expand the role and recognition of reserve officers.
Council President John Lee introduced the recognition, noting the officers deployed to Paris at no cost to the city and represented the LAPD abroad. “They answered the call,” Lee said, thanking the reserve officers for their service.
Carla Amundsen, president of the LAPD Reserve Foundation, described the reserve corps as volunteers who complete the same training as full‑time officers and who serve in divisions across the city, often in critical incidents. Bernard Khalili, an LAPD reserve officer who led the Paris deployment, said the LAPD reserve team was the largest U.S. municipal law‑enforcement contingent outside the European Union and the only team to serve entirely unpaid. He said the mission provided operational lessons that will help Los Angeles prepare for the 2028 Olympics.
Amundsen recommended that the city consider allowing reserve officers to participate in the LAPD Coast program — a mechanism through which officers can staff security and traffic assignments paid by outside entities — but only after reserve officers have completed required volunteer hours. She said that permit‑style paid assignments would recognize reserves’ contributions, enhance retention, and expand capacity for large events in the lead up to LA 2028.
Councilmembers at the presentation thanked the reserve officers and said the city would study proposals to recognize and expand reserves’ roles. No vote or ordinance was taken; the remarks were recorded as a ceremonial recognition and a policy suggestion for staff follow‑up.
