POLICE ASSOCIATIONS & CHARITIES

The Latin American Police Association was first organized in the fall of 1961 with a total membership of 21 members.

At that time there was only a handful of Hispanics on the Chicago Police Department. This was due in part to subtle discrimination, such as the imposition of a minimum height requirement, as well as overt discrimination, which has historically excluded the ‘first wave’ of most immigrant groups. Another impediment was the fact that most police agencies in Hispanic countries were notoriously corrupt and this distrust of the police lingered after the immigrant’s arrival.

LAPA has the distinction of being the first ethnic law enforcement group within the city of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. The main goals of the organization were to promote police/community relations, the recruitment of Hispanic police candidates, and the promotion of incumbent Hispanic police officers. After fifty years of labor, these continue to be LAPA’s main goals. As LAPA’s membership grew, these efforts expanded to include the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, suburban police departments, and Federal law enforcement agencies.

Along with legal and political action, LAPA has attempted to increase our representation by conducting tutorial classes for both Chicago Police Department and Cook County Sheriff candidates. This was achieved in part due to the excellent cooperation of the Chicago City-wide Colleges. We also hold tutorial classes for Police and Sheriff’s personnel seeking promotion. All of our classes are open to any interested party, regardless of her/his ethnic background.

As LAPA approaches its sixtieth anniversary, we aspire to serve as role models to our youth, promote strong police/community relations, and improve our professionalism. We hope to achieve these goals in part through the continued support of various police agencies and fellow fraternal organizations.

LAPA is a fraternal organization created to assist Hispanics in the field of law enforcement. The membership of LAPA is comprised of any person of Hispanic descent, in whole or in part, who is a sworn member in good standing of any law enforcement agency in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area.