The Counter-Terrorism Bureau (CTB) is a disbanded bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). When it was active, the CTB was responsible for responding to and investigating bombings, attempted bombings, bomb threats, acts of terrorism, and incidents involving hazardous materials.
It's presumed that CTB was disbanded for the beginning of Major Crimes. After Thomas Delk was sworn in as Chief of Police he planned on restructuring the department to more closely match the real LAPD organization of the time, suggesting that the Counter-Terrorism Bureau would be merged with the Special Operations Bureau just like in the real LAPD. Before Chief Delk could make his changes public, he died of a sudden brain aneurysm. After Assistant Chief Will Pope was appointed as the Interim Chief of Police (and later permanently confirmed as the Chief of Police), it's presumed that he also chose to implement this change, as The Closer and Major Crimes creator James Duff confirmed in an interview ahead of Major Crimes, Season 3, that the responsibilities of the Special Operations Bureau now match the real world (i.e. a separate Counter-Terrorism Bureau no longer exists).[1]
Command staff[]
Commanding Officer[]
The Commanding Officer was responsible for managing, supervising, and coordinating the activities of the Bureau. As a staff officer, the Commanding Officer was also responsible for developing and recommending policies and procedures affecting those functions under their command.
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Deputy Chief Thomas Delk was the Commanding Officer during The Closer, before his appointment as the Chief of Police in Season 6. |
Assistant Commanding Officer[]
The Assistant Commanding Officer assists the Deputy Chief in coordinating the bureau's activities and will act as the Commanding Officer during the Chief's absence. As a staff officer, the Assistant Commanding Officer was also responsible for developing and recommending policies and procedures affecting those functions under their command. By position, the Assistant Commanding Officer was also the Director of Emergency Operations when the Department Command Post is activated.
Subordinate components[]
The CTB was comprised of the following components; these components are now found in the Special Operations Bureau.
Counter-Terrorism Division[]
The Counter-Terrorism Division (CT) is responsible for investigating crimes involving explosives or any type of nuclear, radiological, chemical or biological material, as well as other terrorism-related crimes.
Emergency Services Division[]
The Emergency Services Division (ESD) is responsible for responding to incidents involving explosives and other destructive devices as well as hazardous materials.
Appearances/mentions[]
In “Homewrecker”, when the LAPD's budget was cut substantially, and federal requirements for the CTB keeps taking more and more resources, it was ordered that every division was to lose one detective, either through forced retirement or transfer to CTB. For Priority Homicide this was suggested to be achieved by forcing Lt. Provenza to retire. At the end of the day, Sgt. David Gabriel suggested to Asst. Chief Pope that he could, on paper, transfer members from Priority Homicide to CTB, but "loan them back" to Priority Homicide as personnel are apparently only needed in CTB if the threat level rises. Brenda, however, does not learn of the transfer until “Dumb Luck”, when her squad had to undertake mandatory Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training. Brenda and Lt. Provenza were the only members not transferred and required to attend the training due to Brenda' status as a the PHD Commanding Officer (and a Deputy Chief) and Lt. Provenza due to his age.
In “Lover's Leap” when Priority Homicide was investigating the murder of a DHS accountant, the accountant's encrypted cell-phone and laptop were missing and presumed stolen making it a national security issue. The FBI stated that they shouldn't even be talking about the matter with Priority Homicide but rather with the "Homicide Task Force" of the CTB. After Sergeant Gabriel got the FBI to agree to a joint investigation between the "CTB Homicide Task Force" and the FBI, it was revealed that Priority Homicide is the task force due to the "on paper" transfer of personnel from Priority Homicide to CTB.
Deputy Chief Thomas Delk was introduced in “Executive Order” and it was mentioned that the CTB works with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on a lot of their investigations, and Chief Delk was eager to share information to the FBI even after Chief Johnson had requested that he didn't, with Delk stating that he couldn't withhold information which could make him seem untrustworthy in the eyes of the FBI.
Notes[]
The Counter-Terrorism Bureau is based on the Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CTCIB) of the real LAPD, which doesn't exist in the Major Crimes Universe.[note 2] It's presumed that the intelligence functions of the real life Major Crimes Division of CTCIB are handled by the Criminal Intelligence Division, even those relating to terrorism, while the Counter-Terrorism Bureau is responsible for the actual investigation into the crimes which might have been committed.
In real life, the CTCIB was merged with the Special Operations Bureau in 2010, creating the new Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau (CTSOB). In the Major Crimes Universe, as mentioned above, this merger is believed to have happened for the beginning of Major Crimes (i.e. 2012), though in the Major Crimes Universe the Special Operations Bureau was not renamed in the process.
- ↑ While the real world Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CTCIB) reported directly to the Chief of Police, this is not the case for the fictionalized Counter-Terrorism Bureau.
- ↑ In “Blindsided”, the Parker Center floor directory listed "Major Crimes Division" as being on the fifth floor, and the "Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau" being on the sixth floor. This is interesting as at that time the Major Crimes Division did not yet exists, and the fictionalized Counter-Terrorism Bureau had already been mentioned before (though obviously these aforementioned components existed in the real world). This suggests that the props used were created based on the real LAPD organization and were never modified when the writers/producers made changes to it for story reasons. They could have also believed that nobody would ever notice such a small detail, especially considering the standard definition broadcasts of that time, as it was pretty much impossible to know that the show would end up being shown in Full HD in the future.
References[]
| MAIN ARTICLE: LAPD | Full organization list • Chart/image • Chart/PDF |
• Awards of the LAPD • Ranks of the LAPD |
• Police Administration Building • Piper Tech | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office of the Chief of Police | Professional Standards Bureau | FID • IAG • SOD | ||
| Office of Administrative Services | ||||
| Office of Constitutional Policing and Policy | ||||
| Office of Operations | Major Crimes Division | |||
| Assistant to the Director | CSD • PD • RACR • SECSD | |||
| Detective Bureau | CCD • DSD • FD • JUV • ND • RHD • SID • VD | |||
| Special Operations Bureau | SIS • ASD • CT • CI • EOD • ESD • GOSD • METRO • SCID | |||
| Field Operations | OCB/OSB/OVB/OWB • TSB • Gang Units | |||
| Disbanded components | Office of Human Resources • Counter-Terrorism Bureau | |||
