He wrote that LAPD officers visited Israel and other international locales<\/a> for counterterrorism and Olympics events training. Participants didn\u2019t keep very detailed documentation of what they learned, and it\u2019s not clear any of it was ever adopted, a Police Commission\u2019s Office of the Inspector General report confirmed.<\/p>\n So, what did LAPD officers see, learn and experience? Well, let\u2019s get into that.<\/p>\n Where did LAPD personnel visit for training missions?<\/p>\n The LAPD has trained with Israeli security forces for decades, though that relationship has come under scrutiny amid what many experts are calling a genocide<\/a> in Gaza.<\/p>\n LAPD officials have also traveled to Italy and France in preparation for hosting the Olympics<\/a>, and to Mexico and Thailand to study investigative techniques and police tactics.<\/p>\n Nearly a quarter of the trips were to Canada, where LAPD personnel went to learn about best practices in investigating human trafficking and clandestine drug labs.<\/p>\n LAPD officials also trained on crowd-control tactics with the Royal Thai Police and authorities in Austria, and attended police aviation conventions in Colombia, the U.K., Mexico, Germany and Poland. They also sent officers to Singapore, France and England for Interpol-led instruction on investigating crimes against children.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s going on these trips and who pays for them?<\/p>\n The inspector general\u2019s report looked at 117 \u201cforeign training activities\u201d attended by 243 LAPD employees since 2014, seeking to determine how they benefited the department.<\/p>\n The report found 18 LAPD officials took trips to Israel that cost a combined $87,000.<\/p>\n It said roughly 80% of all overseas trips were financed through outside funding, such as police foundations and grants.<\/p>\n The perception of bias<\/p>\n Although donations to cover travel don\u2019t have to be disclosed under state and federal law, report authors noted that the \u201cpotential risks and the perception of conflicts of interest associated with such funding outweigh the benefits of maintaining the anonymity of funding sources.\u201d<\/p>\n The department also \u201clacks any process to adequately assess and identify potential security risks within host countries,\u201d the report said, noting failures to vet foreign contacts with U.S. national security agencies to ensure they are not members of an intelligence service or extremist groups.<\/p>\n Lack of paperwork<\/p>\n LAPD officials said the department hadn\u2019t adopted any \u201ctactics, altered policies, or developed training programs\u201d based on the trips abroad, but the report\u2019s authors said the dearth of records made that claim impossible to verify.<\/p>\n Department officials are required to seek permission for work-related travel, but the report found that lack of proper record-keeping meant investigators were \u201cunable to evaluate the key takeaways and potential benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n Recommendations for future trips<\/p>\n At a minimum, the inspector general\u2019s office said, the LAPD should keep track of the location, category and topics covered at each training event.<\/p>\n Ideally, the report said, the department would also require participants to complete an evaluation report detailing what lessons they learned and \u201cpractical applications for Department operations.\u201d<\/p>\n Click here to read more about the inspector\u2019s report<\/a>.<\/p>\n You’re reading the Essential California newsletter The week\u2019s biggest stories (Christina House\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Los Angeles-area firesReaction to Supreme Court\u2018s rejection of tariffsScience, health and environmentSex abuse scandalsMilan-Cortina OlympicsWhat else is going onMust readsOther meaty readsFor your downtime (Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inL.A. Affairs<\/p>\n Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Jim Rainey, staff reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I first visited Europe as a senior during a high school trip. Together with other students, I washed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":273523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,11791,7823,4140,4238,11789,99,6276,2961,224,2444,5337,11395,7825,5996,11792,11790,3549,290,6620,7827],"class_list":["post-608306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-civic-revolt","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-days","tag-essential-california","tag-israel","tag-l-a","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-may","tag-pandemic","tag-part","tag-president-biden","tag-red-county","tag-san-diego","tag-state","tag-time","tag-years"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116114809584899602","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Los](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771618933_190_.jpeg\")
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Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n