Law enforcement in Irvine
The earliest organized law enforcement in what is today the city of Irvine, would have dated back to California's entry as a US state in 1850. At this time, the area today known as Orange County was still a part of Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department was responsible for law enforcement to all areas of the county at that time. In the mid-19th century, due to the levels of lawlessness in the southern counties of California, the governor created the Los Angeles Rangers, a mounted volunteer cavalry unit that supplemented law enforcement in Southern California. This unit was dissolved by the 1860s.
By 1889, the area today known as Orange County was allowed by the state of California to break away from Los Angeles County. The Irvine Ranch (run first by the Irvine Family, later by the Irvine Company and Irvine Foundation) also had its own Special Deputies (peace officers), authorized by the Orange County Sheriff.
The city of Irvine was originally developed as a master planned community by the Irvine Company, working in conjunction with the state that also built the University of California, Irvine during the early 1960s.
The City of Irvine incorporated in 1971 following a popular vote by the people of the community. For the first year of the city's existence, the city contracted with the Orange County Sheriff's Department to continue law enforcement service to the formerly unincorporated county area, following the Lakewood/ Los Angeles Sheriff's Model from 1954.
In 1972, the city of Irvine changed their contract law enforcement agency to the Costa Mesa Police Department, that provided contract police service until 1975, this time following the Brea Police/Yorba Linda model. During that period, officers from Costa Mesa Police would work the Irvine contract, wearing their Costa Mesa uniforms, but with a patch denoting their assignment to Irvine, under their normal Costa Mesa uniform shoulder patches. These officers used marked Costa Mesa patrol units, albeit with the Irvine city seal in place of the Costa Mesa city seal on the doors.[2]
