Glendale Police Department

If you, a loved one or a family member has been arrested by or is under investigation by the Glendale Police Department, it is anticipated that you may need to know the bail amount for the offense, the factual and legal requirements to prove that the crime took place, the potential defenses and the sentence a judge can impose if one is convicted of the crime. 

Criminal cases involving arrests in Glendale are filed at the Glendale Superior Court at 600 East Broadway Avenue in Glendale or at the Clara Shortridge Foltz criminal courts building (CCB) in downtown Los Angeles.

We at Greg Hill & Associates believe it is also good for one to know a few additional things before interacting with any police or sheriff’s department.  It is wise to know the size of the police department, the demographics of the city, the most frequent types of crime the department investigates and just a bit about the city’s history to make one’s communication with law enforcement more meaningful, more informed and perhaps, more respectful.  This can lead to a better outcome than if one lacks such perspective and simply trusts the police to respect them.

This article is presented with this goal in mind.

The Glendale Police Department is big.  It has 250 sworn police officers and another 150 non-sworn employees, making it one of the largest police departments in Los Angeles County.

This size is not surprising when one considers that in the 2020 census, Glendale’s population was 196,543,  up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Los Angeles County and the 24th-largest city in California. 

As of 2020, 62% of the city’s population was White, while 15% was Asian and 17% was Hispanic or Latino.  In June 2000, Erin Texeira of the Los Angeles Times stated that according to data from the US Census and the City of Glendale, the populations were about 30% Armenians, 25% other White, 25% Latino and Hispanic, and 16% Asian.

Armenian families have lived in the city since the 1920’s, but the surge in immigration escalated in the 1970’s.  Armenian Americans are well integrated into the city, with many businesses, several Armenian schools, and ethnic/cultural organizations serving this ethnic group. 

Most of the Armenians in Glendale arrived in the past two decades.  Beginning in the late 1980’s, with assistance from family and friends already there, Armenians from the former Soviet Union began arriving.

During 2009–2013, Glendale had a median household income of $53,020, with 14.2% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

Until as late as the 1960’s, Glendale was a “sundown town.”  Nonwhites were required to leave city limits by a certain time each day or risk arrest and possible violence.  The emergence of increasingly visible ethnic groups—including Armenians, Cubans, Filipinos and Koreans changed the official discourse in Glendale.

In 1977 and 1978, 10 murdered women were found in and around Glendale in what became known as the case of the Hillside Strangler.  The murders were the work of Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, the latter of whom resided at 703 East Colorado Street, where most of the murders took place.

In 1985, the notorious serial killer and rapist Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez terrorized the Los Angeles area, including Glendale.  He was linked to the death of Max Kneiding and his wife, Lela Ellen, who were shot to death in their Glendale home.  Ramirez also was later linked to a murder just south of Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

In 2014, Glendale was named the ninth-safest city in America in a report published by 24/7 Wall Street based on violent crime rates in cities with more than 100,000 people.  Also in 2014, real estate company Movoto used FBI data crime data from 2013 to conduct a study of 100 U.S. cities with populations between 126,047 and 210,309 residents and concluded that Glendale was the safest mid-sized city in America.

However, Glendale was once home to more than thirty different gangs.  Gang violence peaked in the nineties.  Over time, the numbers have dropped significantly, and now there are only five documented gangs in the city.  Gang activity is primarily located in the low-income, Hispanic area of South Glendale, bordering the Northeast Los Angeles neighborhoods of Atwater Village and Glassell Park.  Historically, South Glendale is claimed by the Mexican gang Tooner Ville Rifa.

Armenian Power is widely considered to be the most significant organized crime group currently operating in Glendale.  Operating both as a traditional mafia crime organization and as a network of visible street gangs, AP is the subject of federal law enforcement attention, and maintains a strategic relationship with California's "Mexican Mafia" prison gang and consequentially, affiliated Sureños gangs across Greater Los Angeles.  Street presence is visible along the public transit corridors along Central and Brand, and in the commercial districts, in typical mafia storefronts and businesses.

We at Greg Hill & Associates have handled many criminal cases at the Glendale Superior Court.  Many have been for DUI and shoplifting, although several have been for check fraud and embezzlement, as well as a variety of other crimes.

For more information about being arrested and possibly facing a criminal case, please click on the following articles: