LAPD, captured

It was closed down and boarded up, then vandalized and set on fire. Now the old Highland Park police station on York Boulevard has been restored and given new life as Behind the Badge: The LAPD Experience Museum and Education Center, the first permanent and public space to chronicle the city’s famed law enforcement agency.

Be it love, hate, fear or admiration, it’s hard not to have an opinion about the Los Angeles Police Department. But until recently there’s never been a central place for people to view its artifacts, memorabilia and history or to get a feel for what makes the agency tick.

“The only thing that existed was some semblance of archives some individuals had kept over the years in garages and closets,” said Dave Dalton, executive director of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society, which runs the museum. “The department’s been around since 1869. We felt it was time.

“Some of the most profound events in our entire history have taken place in this city, from notorious crimes to the riots to the Olympics and on and on,” he added. “Our department played such a crucial role in all those events. We hope to in some small way capture the essence of that, the importance the LAPD played in the evolution of this city.”

Using pieces on loan and makeshift exhibits pieced together from what they had, the museum opened quietly about six months ago. Many of the galleries and permanent displays are still in the planning stages, but stop in at the fully restored Renaissance Revival-style building these days and there’s still plenty to see.

Uniforms, guns and other tools of the trade are exhibited upstairs. A helicopter, vintage police cars and several of the bullet-riddled vehicles from the 1997 North Hollywood shootout are parked out back. Among the photo exhibits: “Ladies in Blue,” a retrospective of female police officers dating to 1910, when Alice Stebbins Wells became the first woman on the force; “Images of Skid Row,” from the mid-1980s; and “100 Years of History,” including numerous crime scenes.

Cop tchotchkes, among them reproductions of the officers’ badge, a police cookbook and a Mattel-commissioned Hot Wheels LAPD car, can be found in the gift shop, which will eventually be home to a Krispy Kreme kiosk.

The building’s old jail cells are also in use. “Without Alarm III,” a site-specific art installation about custody, captivity and containment, features 22 works by local artists. Among the pieces on display: a scroll of people executed in the state of California and an old-fashioned 911 switchboard.

Curated by the Arroyo Arts Collective and on display through the end of the month, the show was designed “to explore the issue of security -- people’s fears, fantasies and the demonization of youth,” said Nancy Buchanan, an Arroyo Arts Collective board member. “Particularly in the Northeast, there are these irrational fears that some people have about this area not being safe. We decided to open that up to provoke discussion and encourage people to think about what we mean by being safe or being secure, what kinds of things are happening in our society around those issues.”

Many of the pieces deal with the death penalty and are a powerful commentary on what is sometimes the end result of the LAPD’s work.

“In the department’s rich history, there’s been a lot of good, bad and ugly,” Dalton said. “With integrity, we want to present the whole story of the department -- all of the bumps and grinds and everything else.”

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Custody issues

What: Without Alarm III: A site-specific installation of works related to custody, captivity and containment

Where: Behind the Badge: The LAPD Experience Museum and Education Center, 6045 York Blvd., L.A.

When: Fridays 9 a.m.-3 p.m., through Aug. 30. Walk-ins welcome Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Cost: Free

Info: (323) 344-9445 or www.arroyoartscollective.org