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SEPTEMBER 23, 2013 I VOL. 42 I #38
As LAPD Capt. Michael Oreb Takes Over Central Division, Communication Is Key By Donna Evans ne could reasonably say that the LAPD is in Michael Oreb’s blood. The new Central Area captain’s law enforcement lineage dates to 1918, when his great grandfather, Detective John Magness, drove a police ambulance for the University Division of the department. Oreb, who assumed the top post at the Sixth Street station on Sept. 8, prominently displays Magness’ sepiatone image on his office wall, as well as a photocopy of the May 21, 1920, article from the Los Angeles Evening Herald announcing that Magness had been killed in the line of duty, just two years on the job. Growing up in San Pedro, Oreb heard the stories of how his grandmother and her siblings were orphaned as children, losing their mother a year after Magness was killed. Still, the anecdotes served only to entice him into the world of “looking for bad guys and answering radio calls,” he said with a laugh during an interview last week. “It’s coded in my DNA. It’s always what I was going to do. And here I am,” he said. While Oreb is new to the top cop post, he has headed the patrol division out of the windowless fortress in Skid Row for the last two years. So he was happy to tout some startlingly positive stats: Central saw violent crime fall by 21.6% in 2012, while all Part 1 crimes (the most serious infractions) dropped by 14.5 %. Of course, Oreb now has greater responsibilities and challenges. He has to oversee a 425-officer division (the second largest in the city) that patrols dazzlingly diverse neighborhoods, from the grit of Skid Row to the glitz of L.A. Live, and everything in between. Reaching Out Oreb, 49, smiles easily as he walks through the halls at Sixth and Maple streets, greeting every officer and support staffer by name or nod. With some matter needing his attention every few minutes, Oreb is rarely positioned in any one place for long. One of the first things Oreb did after taking the reins from Capt. Horace Frank, who was promoted to assistant commander of information and technology at LAPD headquarters, was add Friday and Saturday night foot beats to a couple of highly trafficked areas in the Historic Core: Spring Street and the Seventh Street corridor beContinued on page 20
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