Westminster Police Department

The Westminster Police Department is a medium-sized department with 78 full-time sworn police officers and 33 full-time civilian support personnel assigned to it.  Staffing is supplemented by an additional 26 part-time positions that include reserve police officers, civilian investigators, dispatchers, animal control officers, forensic technicians, and police aides.

The Westminster Police Department is responsible for patrolling the City of Westminster, which is 10.04 square miles and has a population of 90,911 as of the 2020 census.

For arrests along the freeways crossing Westminster (SR-22 (the “Garden Grove Freeway”) and the I-405 (the “San Diego Freeway”), the California Highway Patrol (CHP) will normally handle this work, although one may be thereafter transported to the Westminster Police Department for processing, a breath test (if a DUI) and booking.  The person may also be held at the 18-cell Westminster jail until bail is posted or the person is transferred to the much larger Orange County Jail in Santa Ana.

As of 2020, the city’s population was 19.76% non-Hispanic white, 51.16% Asian (Vietnamese being 43.8%), 0.94% African American and 24.58%.  During 2009–2013, Westminster had a median household income of $52,633, with 16.7% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

Westminster has one of the largest Vietnamese populations in the US.  They settled largely in “Little Saigon,” an area straddling Westminster and Garden Grove, and the city is known as the "capital" of overseas Vietnamese.  As of 2020, there were nearly 40,000 people of Vietnamese ancestry living in Westminster.  It is the highest concentration of Vietnamese people in any city in the United States.  Westminster's Little Saigon community is home to the Asian Garden (Phước Lộc Thọ), a large Asian mall.

During 2009–2013, Westminster had a median household income of $52,633, with 16.7% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

In the court case Mendez v. Westminster in 1947, a Hispanic man sued the Westminster School District for forcing his daughter, Sylvia Mendez, to attend a school for Mexican children. Mr. Mendez eventually won and thus began the process of desegregation.  Sylvia Mendez was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on February 15, 2011.

One of Westminster’s most famous residents was Bradey Nowell, the lead singer of Sublime, who was born in Westminster.  He dies of a heroin overdose in San Francisco on May 25, 1996.

Westminster is also the birthplace of Mark Eaton, who played basketball for the Utah Jazz for many years.  Mr. Eaton is 7 feet, four inches tall.

Nguyen Cao Ky (1930–2011), the former Prime Minister of South Vietnam, lived in exile in Westminster, where he ran a liquor store.

Most cases arising out of the Westminster Police Department’s areas of responsibility are brought at the Fullerton Courthouse, but some are also brought at the Central Justice Center at 700 Civic Center Driver West in downtown Santa Ana.  Cases that may be filed at the Central Justice Center instead of at the Fullerton Courthouse would be very serious cases needing specialized prosecutors trained in handling such cases.

Over the last 25 years, our office has handled perhaps 150 cases arising out the Westminster Police Station and brought in the Westminster Courthouse.  Such cases vary from DUI to domestic violence, to rather serious sex offenses, to solicitation of prostitution, to shoplifting.

Westminster PD Patch