Author: Richard Bonneau

Richard “Dick” Bonneau was born and raised in Los Angeles. Upon graduation from high school in 1959, he started his first full-time job, as an Electronics Quality Control Inspector, working on Air Force and Navy inertial navigation systems at Autonetics, a division of North American Aviation. While working at Autonetics, he attended California State University, Long Beach, receiving a BA degree in 1967. He joined the Los Angeles Police Department, and graduated from the academy as an honor graduate, in August 1971. Dick was assigned to Central Division Patrol upon graduation from the academy. While in the LAPD, he received a Master’s Degree from the University of Southern California, and promoted through the ranks of Policeman, Sergeant, and Lieutenant, to the rank of “Senior” Captain. Over the course of his career, Dick served in a variety of assignments, to include Patrol, Academy Instructor, Vice, Internal Affairs, and Watch Commander. He was a member of LAPD’s PPC shooting team for a few years, and a member of LAPD’s long distance running team, which ran across the Unites States, from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, in 1974, and ran a second cross country race from Los Angeles to Montreal, Canada, in 1976. He attended the FBI National Academy in 1987, as a Lieutenant. As a Captain, he commanded Harbor Patrol Division (San Pedro and Wilmington), Scientific Investigation Division (the division that provides forensic services for LAPD), Central Area (downtown Los Angeles), and Southeast Area (South-Central LA and Watts). In 2002, he was assigned as the Department’s Ombudsman. Dick retired from the LAPD in December 2007, after 36 years of service.