The Major Crimes Division Wiki
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The Major Crimes Division Wiki
NOTE: The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) featured in the Major Crimes Universe is fictional but it's loosely based on the organization of the real LAPD from 2005, the year The Closer premiered. This article about the Robbery-Homicide Division is fiction, as the way it's depicted in the Major Crimes Universe differs from its real world counterpart.

The Robbery-Homicide Division (RHD) of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) investigates select homicides, threats against officers, bank robberies and other selected robberies, extortions, sex crimes, and kidnappings on a citywide basis.

In the Major Crimes Universe, the Major Crimes Division (MCD) has taken over many of RHD's original duties, mostly relating to homicides but also others. This caused many problems in the beginning between RHD and the Priority Homicide Division (which later became the Major Crimes Division), as RHD was unaccepting of the new division which began to assimilate RHD's investigative responsibilities into itself. This interdepartmental rivalry has since been resolved and both divisions seem to accept their position within the LAPD.

Additionally, the Special Investigation Section, which is a part of RHD in real life, is a part of the Special Operations Bureau in the Major Crimes Universe.

Command[]

During Season 1 of The Closer, the Commanding Officer of RHD was Commander Scott, though he was never seen.

CmdrTaylor

Cmdr. Taylor

During Season 1, Captain Russell Taylor was the Assistant Commanding Officer of RHD. At the end of Season 1, Taylor is promoted to Commander and becomes the Commanding Officer after the retirement of Commander Scott. In “Hindsight, Part 1”​, Taylor mentions that he was the Captain of Robbery-Homicide in 2004 during the "Reese Murders" when Mark Hickman was fired for his perjury.

After Commander Taylor transferred out of RHD in Season 4 of The Closer, it is not known who assumed command of the division.

Investigative sections[]

Robbery Special Section[]

The Robbery Special Section (RSS) is responsible for investigating the following on a citywide basis:

  • extortions or threats of extortion when:
    • a prolonged investigation is required, and
    • the extortion does not involve a juvenile as the suspect or victim, and
    • the suspect has threatened to do unlawful injury to the person or property of another
  • extortions by any means, including explosives, involving an adult or juvenile victim or suspect and the extortion is directed against a bank, bank employee, bank messenger, federally insured credit union, savings and loan institution, or armored car facility
  • kidnappings when:[RSS 1]
    • there is the potential for serious bodily injury or death, or
    • the facts indicate a connection to a major citywide problem, or
    • a prolonged investigation is required or the investigative resources required exceeds Geographic Area Detective Division's capabilities, or
    • a ransom demand is anticipated or has been made
  • incidents involving smuggled, undocumented persons when kidnaps and extortions are involved
  • commercial robbery series where a prolonged investigation is required or the investigative personnel required exceed geographic Area detective divisions resources[RSS 2]
  • robberies of banks, bank employees, customers followed from banks, bank messengers, credit unions, savings and loan institutions, or armored car facility and the investigation of ATM robberies.[RSS 2]

In addition, the Robbery Special Section also coordinates all live line-ups, except those for juvenile subjects.

Homicide Special Section[]

The Homicide Special Section (HSS) is responsible for investigating the following on a citywide basis:

  • homicides involving:
    • serial killers
    • fire (other than traffic-related fatalities) as the cause of death (arson homicides)
  • any homicide investigation assigned by the Chief of Detectives or by the Commanding Officer, RHD
  • homicides where a prolonged investigation is required
  • requests for assistance from area detectives
  • threats against sworn employees resulting from the course and scope of their duties
  • illegal abortions

In addition to performing directed, periodic audits of divisional murder books, reviews of select investigations and/or case-specific habeas corpus issues, the section is tasked with reviewing all murder follow-up reports submitted for clearance as "Cleared Other." The section is also responsible for providing personnel to accompany VIPs visiting the City in order to have investigative expertise immediately available should the need arise.

Special Assault Section[]

The Special Assault Section (SAS) is notified when any of the following crimes are committed in the city, but it only assumes investigative responsibility at the discretion of the Commanding Officer, RHD:

  • sexual homicides (indicators of sexually related homicide may include: the victim's attire or lack thereof, exposure of the victim's sexual parts, sexual positioning of the body, insertion of foreign objects into the victim's body cavities, evidence of sexual intercourse, and/or evidence of substitute sexual activity, interest or sadistic fantasy)[SAS 1]
  • sexual assaults during:
    • hot prowl burglary, or
    • business burglary, or
    • home invasion robbery
  • sexual assaults committed by a stranger:
    • when a firearm is seen, or
    • where the victim is admitted to a hospital due to injuries sustained during the assault, or
    • where the victim is kidnapped by being forced into a vehicle and transported to a secondary location
  • sexual assaults where the identity of the victim or suspect is of a high profile nature[SAS 2]
  • serial sexual assaults[SAS 2]
  • "Cold case" sexual assaults

A "cold case" sexual assault is defined as any unsolved sexual assault in the city that was committed more than two years ago, and has no significant leads, and is no longer being actively investigated by Area or Bureau detectives based on a lack of solvability factors and/or workload.

Sex Crimes Unit[]

A fictional Sex Crimes Unit exists in the Major Crimes Universe. The unit's investigative responsibilities are unknown, as is the unit's organizational placement, but it's presumed it is under the control of the Special Assault Section because of its citywide jurisdiction.(“N.S.F.W.”)

The unit was mentioned to be investigating a porn production company specializing in "barely legal" pornography, specifically girls who just turned 18-years-old the day of filming. The Sex Crimes Unit was investigating if the company filmed with underaged children, or if they "practiced" with the girls before their birthdays.(“N.S.F.W.”) Based on that information, the unit seems to have some overlap with the Special Enforcement Section of the Vice Division, which is responsible for investigating violations of pornography and obscenity (including commercial use of a minor as a pornographic model).

Known personnel[]
Detective Jordan Valdez Detective II Jordan Valdez is a supervisor in the Sex Crimes Unit on Major Crimes, Season 5.

Det. Valdez has only been seen in “N.S.F.W.”. She was portrayed by Romi Dias.

Cold Case Homicide Special Section[]

The Cold Case Homicide Special Section (CCHSS) is primarily responsible for the following:

  • investigating select "cold case" homicides;
  • investigating or assigning cold DNA "hit" cases city-wide;
  • screening select cases and identifying solvability factors; and
  • submitting requests to Scientific Investigation Division for various types of analysis.

A "cold case" homicide is defined as any unsolved homicide in the city that was committed more than five years ago, and has no significant leads, and is no longer being actively investigated by Area or Bureau detectives based on a lack of solvability factors and/or workload.

Investigative responsibilities moved to or shared with MCD[]

In the real LAPD, RHD also has the following investigative responsibilities but, in the Major Crimes Universe, they have been transferred to the Major Crimes Division, or RHD handles the cases when MCD is unable to do so or when the case doesn't rise to a level requiring Major Crimes' involvement.

As most of the crimes featured on The Closer and Major Crimes are homicides, it's not fully known if all of the following cases are also investigated by MCD (but just not shown in episodes) or if they are still handled by RHD.

Robbery[]

Transferred or shared responsibilities of the Robbery Special Section:

  1. Major Crimes is known to investigate kidnappings, especially when children are involved, or when they are connected to MCD's ongoing investigations. MCD is also responsible for investigating kidnapped LAPD employees/officers. Presumably RHD still has primary jurisdiction on investigations which fit in the outlined categories but don't rise to a level requiring Major Crimes' involvement.
  2. 2.0 2.1 When a homicide is committed during a commercial or bank robbery, Major Crimes assumes responsibility for the entire investigation.

Homicide[]

Transferred or shared responsibilities of the Homicide Special Section:

When the Priority Homicide Division was disbanded following a damaging news article about the division, it was mentioned that Priority Homicide handled more white murder victims than Robbery-Homicide, confirming that RHD still retains some investigative responsibilites relating to homicides.


  • homicides involving multiple victims (generally three or more) in one incident
  • homicides involving intense media coverage or high profile
  • solicitation, extortion or conspiracy to commit murder (murder for hire)

Major Crimes has effectively taken over the aforementioned homicide investigations from RHD. On the topic of homicides with multiple victims, Major Crimes often investigates incidents with just two victims, rather than requiring three or more like RHD in the past.


  • assaults against on-duty police officers in the city limits wherein:
    • serious bodily injury or death results
    • officers are shot at and do not return fire
  • incidents involving death or serious injury to a LAPD employee that are:
    • non traffic related and officer involved
    • the result of suicide or an attempted suicide

Major Crimes is responsible for investigating assaults against on-duty, off-duty, and retired police officers when the officers are killed. This responsibility is also extended to other LAPD personnel, such as SID investigators, not just sworn officers.


  • requests for assistance from area detectives
  • requests from outside law enforcement agencies

Major Crimes has been known to fill in for other homicide divisions when needed (e.g. when the other division is in training or otherwise unavailable). It has also investigated cases requested by other law enforcement agencies. Presumably RHD retains the responsibility to assist geographic detective divisions if the need arises, rather than assuming full responsibility for the investigation as Major Crimes does.

Special Assault[]

Transferred or shared responsibilities of the Special Assault Section:

  1. Major Crimes has been shown to investigate sexual homicides when the identity of the victim is high-profile in nature. Presumably SAS retains the investigative responsibility for sexual homicides when the the identity of the victim is not high-profile.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Major Crimes investigated a string of high-profile sexual assaults they discovered during a murder investigation (“Conspiracy Theory, Part 1”–“Conspiracy Theory, Part 4”). Presumably SAS has primary jurisdiction for such crimes when they are not connected to MCD's ongoing investigations.

Major Crimes interacting with RHD[]

After the Priority Homicide Division was established outside of the Robbery-Homicide Division, both of the divisions often responded to the same investigation, most of the time resulting in RHD being forced to leave the scene, causing visible disdain for the new division.

At times over the series, Major Crimes is mentioned asking for information on open cases from Robbery-Homicide and then effectively taking them over due to the cases tying into their own case in some manner. During Season 5 of Major Crimes, Lieutenant Provenza gets Buzz Watson the Robbery-Homicide case files on the unsolved murders of his father and uncle so that he can finally get justice.

In the five part "Hindsight" arc, its revealed that in 2004, Michael Tao, Stephanie Dunn and Mark Hickman were all Detectives working in Robbery-Homicide when Officer Malcolm Reese was murdered by Daniel Price. The three investigated the case, but after Hickman's perjury cost the LAPD the case and the murders of DDA Rachel Gray and her bodyguard Eric Dunn, Hickman was fired. Stephanie subsequently transferred to the Narcotics Division. By 2005, in “The Closer (Pilot)”, Tao had been promoted to Lieutenant and selected to join the Priority Murder Squad of RHD, which later became the Priority Homicide Division (and even later the Major Crimes Division).

THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
As featured in the Major Crimes Universe.
MAIN ARTICLE: LAPD Organizational chart
(.PDF version)
Ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department Awards of the Los Angeles Police Department Police Administration Building
Office of the Chief of Police Professional Standards Bureau:
Force Investigation Division
Counter-Terrorism Bureau
Office of Operations Major Crimes Division Criminal Intelligence Division
Special Operations Bureau:
SISASDMetroSOSDSCID
Detective Bureau:
CCDDSDJUVNDRHDVD
Other units Office of Support Services:
Scientific Investigation Division
Office of Constitutional Policing and Policy
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