Background of the SIS

The Special Investigations Section of the Los Angeles Police Department is a secretive, 20-man surveillance unit that targets suspected felons and attempts to gather enough evidence to arrest them.

An investigation by The Times in 1988 documented numerous instances in which SIS detectives ignored lesser crimes and other opportunities to arrest the suspected felons they were assigned to shadow. Instead, detectives would wait and watch while suspects consummated armed robberies and other violent offenses in which innocent victims were imperiled and sometimes injured.

Many SIS surveillance cases ended in suspects being shot-- sometimes under questionable circumstances, The Times found.

All of the shootings were found to be justified by department administrators and the district attorney’s office.

After the stories appeared, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates enacted a “Reverence for Human Life” policy requiring officers throughout the Police Department to protect potential victims even if it means jeopardizing undercover investigations such as those conducted by the SIS.