Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department - Norwalk Station

If a loved one, a family member or you have been arrested by or are being investigated by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LAPD), Norwalk Station, it can cause a lot of anxiety. 

Facing such a situation, it can be good to know the bail amount (if any) associated with the offense if police deny an own recognizance (OR) release.  It is also valuable to know what evidence is needed to convict one for the crime that allegedly took place, the defenses possible and the sentence a judge can impose if one is convicted of the crime. 

We at Greg Hill & Associates believe it is smart to know a few more things before interacting with any branch of law enforcement.  It can be helpful to know the size of the police or sheriff’s department, the area’s demographics, the most common types of crimes the department investigates and just a bit about the area’s history to make one’s communication with law enforcement more meaningful, more savvy and perhaps, more respectful.  This can lead to a better outcome than if one lacks such perspective.

This article is presented with this goal in mind.

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Norwalk Station, has an unspecified number of sworn police officers and an unspecified number of civilian support personnel assigned to it. 

The Norwalk Station is responsible for the City of Norwalk, the City of La Mirada, the southern unincorporated area of Whittier and eastern unincorporated area of Whittier.

The City of Norwalk itself has a population of just over 100,000, as of the 2020 census. 

Greg Hill of our office is a former Marine aviator, having over 1,000 hours in the EA-6B Prowler (including thirty-five combat missions in Operation Desert Storm over Iraq in 1991), so to him, Norwalk is known for an aviation disaster.  In February 1958, two military aircraft, a Douglas C-118A military transport and a U.S. Navy P2V-5F Neptune patrol bomber, collided over Norwalk at night.  Forty-seven servicemen were killed, as was a civilian 23-year-old woman on the ground who was hit by falling debris. 

A plaque commemorating the disaster was erected by the American Legion in 1961 marks the spot of the accident.  Today, there is a mini mall at the corner of Firestone Boulevard and Pioneer Boulevard.

As of 2010, the racial makeup of Norwalk was 49.4% white (12.3% Non-Hispanic White), 4.4% African American, 12.0% Asian (5.3% Filipino) and 70.1% Hispanic or Latino. 

35.6% of Norwalk’s residents are foreign born and 65.7% speak a language other than English in the home. Thirteen percent of residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher and 70.7% of residents have a high school degree. 7.9% of families and 9.8% of individuals live below the poverty line.

Norwalk and La Mirada do have criminal street gangs.  The most well-known gangs in the area are Varrio Norwalk (VNWK), Carmelas, Neighborhood Norwalk (NBD), Orange Street Locos (OSL) and Peaceful Varrio Norwalk (PVN).

La Mirada is about half the size of Norwalk and it borders the Orange County line.  The city received a lot of attention for the fact that it was going to be completely structured and planned out.  Referred to as "the Nation's completely planned city" during the early 1950’s, the city of La Mirada received a lot of attention from the State Fair.  The Fair praised the city for planning for the future while still maintaining practicality for today.

In 1953, the land was sold to subdivisions for 5.2 million dollars, one of the largest real estate transactions in California.  In 1954, Louis M. Halper, a prominent Southland residential and commercial builder, purchased 2,100 acres of La Mirada land for $8,000,000.  Halper launched construction on what was to be a $150,000,000 community with schools, shopping centers, and 10,000 homes that he completed by the end of two years.

His firm had taken over the acreage from a group of corporations and Harold L. Shaw, who launched the original La Mirada development.  He said at the time the entire community would be redesigned for maximum advantages of a modern planned city.  Halper had developed a new pattern for community development by wholesaling land to other builders and establishing the La Mirada Civic Council to control quality.  Three and four-bedroom homes were sold in the $13,000 price range.  By 1960, the year the city was incorporated, La Mirada had grown from a mere one hundred homes to over 8,000.

Most cases arising out of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Norwalk Station’s areas of responsibility are brought at the Norwalk Courthouse, but some are also brought at the Clara Shortridge Foltz criminal courts building (CCB) at 210 West Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles.  Cases that may be filed at CCB instead of at the Torrance Courthouse would be very serious cases needing specialized prosecutors trained in handling such cases.

Over the last 25 years, our office has handled over 100 cases arising out the Norwalk Sheriff’s station and brought in the Norwalk Courthouse.  Such cases vary from DUI to domestic violence, to shoplifting, to trespassing, to criminal threats to burglary.  Greg’s most memorable case involved resentencing of a military veteran to time served on a case wherein the veteran robbed a Brinks truck in a Bank of America parking lot, escaping with over $300,000 in cash, only to be arrested about a week later in Nevada.