Special Investigation Section

Special Investigation Section
Abbreviation	SIS
Motto	Silent professionals
Organizational structure
Part of	Los Angeles Police Department Office of Operations Special Operations Bureau
Headquarters	C. Erwin Piper Technical Center, 555 Ramirez St, Los Angeles
Command staff
Officer-in-Charge	Chuck Cooper, Lieutenant II

The Special Investigation Section (SIS) is the tactical surveillance unit of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The primary mission of SIS is to determine if the suspects under surveillance are connected to the crimes under investigation, and, if needed, to locate and arrest the suspects. SIS is also responsible for all of the LAPD's kidnap-ransom exchanges as well as providing necessary surveillance support to all kidnapping investigations even if a ransom demand has not been made.

SIS in the Major Crimes Universe

In the Major Crimes Universe, the Special Investigation Section is currently assigned to the Special Operations Bureau and reports directly to its Commanding Officer. Although assigned to SOB, SIS and its resources are available to any division seeking surveillance on active criminals or crimes.

As stated in “Do Not Disturb”, SIS is headquartered at the C. Erwin Piper Technical Center, or Piper Tech for short, along with the rest of the Special Operations Bureau.

Special duties

In addition to its regular real life duties (as noted above), SIS is also known to provide protective details on subjects (e.g. witnesses, possible victims of violent crimes identified through other measures, etc.), if deemed necessary. These SIS protective details can be used to augment existing protective details, if such details are already in place, and/or they can be assigned to undercover details, blending in to the crowds.

• NOTE: the H Platoon of the Metropolitan Division is responsible providing security details for city leaders, including the Mayor and Chief of Police, along with other dignitaries, as needed. Presumably SIS may augment such details, if requested.

SIS is also noted to handle some, or possibly all, of the LAPD's witness relocation details (until the witness/witnesses are in care of the California Attorney General's Office or the United States Marshals Service).

SIS is also responsible for undercover investigations/operations targeting gangs and other criminal organizations, and for providing support to investigations through surveillance operations. It's unclear why these duties have been assumed by SIS rather than by the Criminal Intelligence Division.

Known personnel

Officer-in-Charge

Lieutenant Chuck Cooper is the Officer-in-Charge of the Special Investigation Section. Cooper has been the Officer-in-Charge for the entire duration of Major Crimes and presumably for quite some time during The Closer (based on conversations between Cooper and Det. Sykes).

Other personnel

	Detective Mikki Mendoza is assigned to SIS and she occasionally worked with the Major Crimes Division during The Closer, Season 5. By her appearance in Season 6 she had transferred to the Robbery-Homicide Division.
	Detective Amy Sykes was assigned to SIS in the Major Crimes premiere “Reloaded”​​​​​ and for some time during The Closer, though she did not make any appearances during it. Sykes transferred to the Major Crimes Division at the end of “Reloaded”​​​​​.
	Detective Mike Alamo is a somewhat inept SIS detective assigned to track down Gary Lewis in “Hindsight, Part 2” when he is wanted for armed robbery.
	Detective Wes Nolan was assigned to SIS to work undercover in the Zyklon Brotherhood (a white supremacist gang), an assignment he held for nearly six years. He transferred to the Major Crimes Division at the end of “White Lies, Part 3”​​​​​.

Unnamed SIS Detectives

	Appearances: “Year-End Blowout”
	Appearances: “Return to Sender”
	Appearances: “Return to Sender”
	Appearances: “Return to Sender”, “FindKaylaWeber”, “Dead Drop”
	Appearances: “FindKaylaWeber”

Known SIS operations

List is incomplete

• “Reloaded”: surveillance of a suspected serial robbery crew.
• “Citizen's Arrest”: surveillance of a kidnapping and ransom drop.
• “Out of Bounds”: surveillance of a paroled gang member who's brother had been killed and all top members of his gang, and surveillance at the victim's high school.
• “D.O.A.”: surveillance of a suspected drug dealer.
• “Year-End Blowout” – “Return to Sender Part 2”: extensive security and surveillance detail on Rusty Beck, trying to identify and capture the letter writer.
• “Do Not Disturb”: surveillance of a Indian diplomat's house whose daughter had gone missing and surveillance of the missing daughter's boyfriend.
• “Two Options”: surveillance of kidnapped childrens' mother's residence and workplace.
• “Sweet Revenge”: security/surveillance detail of a person of interest in a homicide.
• “Special Master Part One” – “Special Master Part Two”: canvassing streets and searching for vacant homes fitting the description for possible homicide locations.
• “Special Master Part Two” – “A Rose Is a Rose”: undercover security detail on Rusty Beck.
• “A Rose Is a Rose”: surveillance of a suspected serial robber.
• “Snitch”: surveillance of a gang neighborhood.
• “Targets of Opportunity”: locating a person of interest in the murders of two LAPD officers.
• “Fifth Dynasty”: surveillance and apprehension of Aryan motorcycle gang members suspected of murder.
• “FindKaylaWeber”: surveillance and apprehension of a suspected child kidnapper.
• “Hindsight, Part 1” – “Hindsight, Part 5”: surveillance of known gang members, drug traffickers and identified drug caches.
• “Hindsight, Part 2”: surveillance detail on Rusty in order to catch Gary Lewis who was following him.
• “White Lies, Part 2”: concluded a nearly six-year undercover investigation into a white supremacist gang, the Zyklon Brotherhood.
• “Dead Drop”: undercover perimeter and surveillance of a house filled with marijuana (fitted with a GPS tracker), later moving the operation to more secluded and easily surveilled parking garage.
• “Shockwave, Part 1” – “Shockwave, Part 2”: surveillance on a suspected bomber, including his mother's home and his rented storage facility.
• “Sanctuary City, Part 4” – “Sanctuary City, Part 5”: surveillance of a church where the body of a missing 15-year-old was dumped and other locations/persons of interest connected to the case.
• “Conspiracy Theory, Part 4”: surveillance of a person of interest in a murder investigation.
• “By Any Means, Part 2” – “By Any Means, Part 4”: security/surveillance details relating to the capture of Phillip Stroh, including details at his mother's house and on Rusty Beck and Gustavo Wallace.

Notes and references

In the Major Crimes Universe, SIS has much more investigative and operational responsibilities than in the real LAPD. In the real LAPD, SIS has historically comprised of approximately just 20 detectives, all of whom have attained the highest level of performance in their detective divisions before being selected to serve in SIS. The SIS featured in the Major Crimes Universe has a lot more detectives than 20, some of whom are extremely young and inexperienced, making it virtually impossible for them to have been assigned to SIS in the real LAPD.

In the real LAPD, SIS is currently a subordinate section of the Robbery-Homicide Division. In the past, SIS has been subordinate to multiple different organizational units, most notably the Assistant Commanding Officer of the Detective Bureau and as a component of the Criminal Investigations Section of the real life Major Crimes Division of the Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau. This could explain how/why SIS has duties of the real world MCD which were not assigned to the fictional Criminal Intelligence Division, and also why SIS has substantially more detectives assigned to it than in real life.

In the real world, SIS has been given the nickname "Death Squad" by some civil rights advocates due to the high numbers of suspects being shot and killed by the section (something which is true in the Major Crimes Universe as well). There are also rumors that SIS holds parties to celebrate any shootouts the section takes part in.

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