Officer Spotlight – Lieutenant Mike Bland
Lieutenant Mike Bland is a 21-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and is currently assigned to the Community Safety Partnership Bureau (CSP Bureau). He began his policing career in 2001 as a patrol officer, and in 2006, he was promoted to Police Officer-III as a Police Academy Instructor. In 2007, he was promoted to Detective and assigned investigations related to vehicle thefts, burglaries, robbery, and those crimes with a nexus to criminal street gangs.
In 2012, Lt. Bland was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and subsequently selected to supervise the 77th Area Vice Unit. While assigned to 77th, he assumed the role of Detective Supervisor (in 2013) and guided investigators as part of the Juvenile Detective and Autos Detective Sections. In 2014, he was assigned to Northeast Area, and achieved the rank of Detective-III, where he supported investigators assigned to the Burglary Detective Section.
In 2015, he was selected as a member of the Strategic Planning Unit and participated in the development and implementation of the Department’s first strategic plan, LAPD in 2020, considered a roadmap designed to transform Los Angeles into the safest big city in the U.S. In 2016, as a member of Community Policing and Policy Group, Lieutenant Bland was assigned as the Officer-in-Charge of the Youth Programs Unit, where he managed the day-to-day operations of Department-sponsored youth programs, most notably, the Cadet Leadership Program. Through his work with the City’s youth, he learned that “kindness is not weakness,” which is a perspective that guides his actions to this day.
In 2019, Lieutenant Bland was promoted to Lieutenant and served as a patrol watch commander assigned to Southwest Area. Then in 2020, he was selected to the newly formed CSP Bureau, where he maintains a leadership role in the establishment and ongoing evolution of CSP’s relationship-based policing model that has proven effective in building public trust and reducing crime.
Lieutenant Bland earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as a master’s degree in Public Administration from the California State University, Long Beach. Additionally, he is a graduate of the LAPD Leadership Development Program, the Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute, and most recently, the SCI Public Safety Leadership Program. He recognizes the power of education and maintains a strong commitment to the development of others through his work as a part-time professor of Criminal Justice at Rio Hondo Community College.
Thank you for your service!
