Criminal Intelligence Division

Criminal Intelligence Division
Common name	Criminal Intelligence CI Division "Intelligence"
Abbreviation	CI
Organizational structure
Part of	Los Angeles Police Department Special Operations Bureau
Headquarters	Police Administration Building, 100 West 1st Street, Los Angeles
Command staff
Commanding Officer	Captain III

The Criminal Intelligence Division (CI) of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is responsible for gathering and analyzing intelligence and criminal information, developing strategies for crime prevention as it relates to terrorism or other major crimes, and investigating organized crime.

Sections of the Criminal Intelligence Division

Analysis Section

The Analysis Section is responsible for analyzing intelligence and criminal information; establishing patterns of criminal activity and threat assessment; and disseminating reports and documents for the purpose of providing assessment, warning, recommendation, and information, in the development of strategy for crime prevention as it relates to terrorism or other major crimes.

The Analysis Section is the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) Unit of the LAPD. A "Suspicious Activity Report" is a stand-alone report of observed behavior reasonably indicative of planning related to terrorism or other criminal activity. The reports will assist the Criminal Intelligence Division in gathering, analyzing and disseminating information that may prove critical to the intelligence cycle.

Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Section

The Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Section is responsible for:

• assessing and analyzing the capabilities of terrorist individuals or groups, and providing concerned department entities with sufficient information to thwart their terrorist goals
• assisting other divisions of the department and other law enforcement agencies to prevent terrorist activities
• examining terrorist tactics, developing terrorist profiles, assessing terrorist threats, and developing information to protect potential targets
• identifying and monitoring individuals and groups that may be engaged in terrorist activity
• identifying terrorist trends
• maintaining intelligence files on individuals and groups that may be engaged in terrorist activity

NOTE: Terrorist activity is described as "individuals and groups who may be planning, threatening, financing, aiding/abetting, attempting or performing unlawful acts to further their societal objectives, to influence societal action, or to harass on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation."

Joint Regional Intelligence Center

The Criminal Intelligence Division has detectives assigned to the Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC). The JRIC is a cooperative effort between federal, state, and local law enforcement and public safety agencies to centralize the intake, analysis, synthesis, and appropriate dissemination of terrorism-related threat intelligence for the greater Los Angeles region. The JRIC is also one of the five Regional Threat Assessment Centers of the California State Threat Assessment System (STAS).

Organized Crime Section

The Organized Crime Section is responsible for:

• collecting, recording, maintaining, and disseminating intelligence information relevant to individuals or groups involved in major organized criminal enterprises characteristic of large scale organized crime groups
• conducting investigative and enforcement efforts on those individuals, groups, or enterprises involved in major organized criminal activities
• correlating and maintaining intelligence information related to organized crime activities
• gathering, recording, and conducting investigations concerning individuals and organizations whose backgrounds, activities, or associates identify them with, or are characteristic of organized crime
• investigating organized criminal activity whose objective is to influence the entertainment, sports, and adult entertainment industries
• monitoring arson investigations involving suspects, victims, or activities associated with organized crime, and maintaining liaison with the Los Angeles City Fire Department for the purpose of providing information to arson investigators to assist in the investigation of arsons involving members of organized crime
• providing information concerning organized crime to the department and other law enforcement agencies
• researching proposed and new legislation and developing procedures to assist in maintaining effective organized crime control

Surveillance Support Section

The Surveillance Support Section is responsible for gathering intelligence and criminal information through surveillance activity, and for researching and developing new surveillance technology.

Known personnel

Commanding Officer

The command of the Criminal Intelligence Division is currently unknown.

Commander Leo Mason was the Commanding Officer of the Criminal Intelligence Division during Major Crimes, Season 5. Based on episode dialogue, it was indicated that he had been the Commanding Officer since at least Season 3 of Major Crimes. Mason was promoted to Assistant Chief and assigned as the Director, Office of Operations for Season 6 of Major Crimes.

Other personnel

	Detective Irene Daniels transferred to CI from the Major Crimes Division at the end of Season 4 of The Closer. She has not made any appearances since.
	Detective Camila Paige was noted to have made a name for herself in CI as a "go-to utility hitter", becoming a favorite of then-Commander Leo Mason. She transferred to the Missing Persons Unit between the events of seasons 4 and 5 of Major Crimes.
	Lieutenant II Julio Sanchez is currently assigned to CI as a Section Officer-in-Charge, though it's not known which Section. He accepted the transfer to CI and the promotion to Lieutenant in the Major Crimes finale, “By Any Means, Part 4”, after spending several years as a Detective in the Major Crimes Division​.

Appearances/mentions

In “Serving the King (Part 1)”, when Deputy Chief Johnson is "contracted" by her old friends at the CIA to look into a possible intelligence leak (which led to a murder being investigated by the LAPD) covertly, Brenda wonders why they contacted her and not the Criminal Intelligence Division. The CIA stated that they couldn't use official channels and therefore had to go "off the books" by using retired personnel (like Brenda).

In “Fate Line”, Assistant Chief Pope tells Deputy Chief Johnson that he has been losing a lot of experienced detectives from the CI Division and that he needs to find replacements for them, which means someone is getting promoted. He also states that there are limited places where he can pull people from and that means that the Major Crimes Division is not exluded from his list. In “Double Blind”, it was revealed that both Sgt. Gabriel and Det. Daniels had applied for the transfer to CI, with the transfer eventually going to Daniels. Interestingly, the transfer to CI from Major Crimes (and other divisions) was always referred to as a promotion in this episode rather than a transfer. This suggests that Criminal Intelligence is higher in the LAPD's inner hierarchy than the Major Crimes Division (or at least it was at the time).

In “Quid Pro Quo”​, Commander Mason revealed that the LAPD had contracted an international defense/technology company to develop new surveillance technology for the LAPD. When the technology company informed Mason that a laptop belonging to their employee was tracked to the Police Administration Building, Mason found out that the employee had been murdered and scrubbed the laptop clean of classified material. Mason then returned the laptop to Capt. Raydor who was surprised, because according to her, when Criminal Intelligence takes possession of evidence, no one ever sees it again.

In “Intersection”​, Cmdr. Mason provided the Major Crimes Division support in tracking the route their murder victim took during his bike ride based on the GPS information found on his cell phone.

In “Shockwave, Part 2”​, Criminal Intelligence traced the connections of their suspected bomber, Cristian Ortiz, all the way through his military service and his time in prison. They found no connections to terrorist activities and/or organizations or to MS-13. This means that the Criminal Intelligence Division has contacts in multiple law enforcement agencies, ranging from municipal and county agencies to federal law enforcement.

In “Sanctuary City, Part 1”​, when three 15-year-old's disappeared from a school field trip, Assistant Chief Mason ordered CI to collect all cell phone photos and videos from students and teachers to synchronize them to local security footage, hoping to get a clue where the boys could have gone. The boys' cellphones are also reportedly turned off with their batteries out, so tracking them is impossible.

In “By Any Means, Part 3”​, when Major Crimes realized they were hacked and being spied upon, Asst. Chief Mason (after learning how the hack was conducted) concluded that Criminal Intelligence used such methods themselves many times on bad guys. Deputy Chief Fritz Howard was worried that the hack had gone beyond Major Crimes and wanted to to scrub everything in order to maintain the little system integrity they had left. However, Lt. Provenza — with some help from Buzz Watson — was able to convince Howard and Mason to let the hacker keep spying on them, as now they know about it and can feed them bad intelligence, something he and Mason both note Mason would have done in a heartbeat if he was still the "head of Intelligence".

Notes

The Criminal Intelligence Division is a fictional division created solely for the Major Crimes Universe. The division's responsibilities as seen in this article are based on the relevant portions of the real life Major Crimes Division, while the other responsibilities of the real life MCD are found in the equally fictional Counter-Terrorism Division. The Major Crimes Universe has also shown us that some investigative responsibilities of the real life MCD which could have been assigned to the CI Division are found in the Major Crimes Division seen in the shows, while some responsibilities are found in the Special Investigation Section, owing to the fictionalized nature of the LAPD seen in the shows.

Like its real world counterpart, the Criminal Intelligence Division is partly based on the historical "Gangster Squad":

• 1946: Gangster Squad is created with a staff of just 10 officers
• 1949: Gangster Squad is renamed as the Intelligence Section when the unit's staffing was increased to 25 officers
• 1950: Intelligence Section is renamed as the Intelligence Division and consisted of 45 officers and one female field team
• 1970: Intelligence Division is renamed as the Organized Crime Intelligence Division
• 1997: Organized Crime Intelligence Division is merged with the Administrative Vice Unit, creating the Organized Crime and Vice Division
• 2004: Organized Crime and Vice Division is separated into two divisions:
  • the Organized Crime Section was transferred to the new Major Crimes Division of the Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau
  • the Vice Division remained as it's own division within the Detective Bureau

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