Photo by Chad Brady.
Sandy Jo MacArthur served with the Los Angeles Police Department for 35 years. She currently works with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office as the mental health training coordinator for L.A. County law enforcement. Before sitting on a panel for the Zócalo event “When Does Protest Make a Difference?,” she joined us in the green room to talk Christmas mornings, L.A. traffic, and going undercover as a sex worker.
What is your favorite police procedural?
Bosch. Probably because it’s very familiar, because it’s all taken place with LAPD, and that’s my home base. But I think they really show all different sides of policing.
Where do you find inspiration these days?
I’ve got seven grandkids, and they make me want to make things better. I want them to enjoy the world like I did. I get a lot of inspiration working with other agencies, working with the community, trying to better policing, move it forward. I should be retired, and I decided, apparently, I’m not going to be retired for a while.
Do you have a favorite family tradition?
No matter what’s happening with everybody, on Christmas morning—from grandma all the way down to grandkids—we have the same pajamas. It’s a silly tradition, but it’s really a lot of fun.
Is there something you wish people knew about policing?
Police usually come from the communities we serve. I wish people could see police officers in a more humanistic light. Likewise, I wish officers, especially younger officers, could see the community, because there’s so much history—some not good. And there’s a lot of generational trauma that has been caused by policing. I think today police are really trying to get past that and to move past it. I feel that there’s still a disconnect.
You have to pick one of these two options to protest:
The 405 or 110. I would protest the 405 because that is the bane of my existence.
Chicago winters or L.A. traffic. Chicago winters, they’re wicked.
Snow or sand. I like them both. But snow gets dirty really fast.
What is your most used emoji?
Rolling my eyes back up over my head. Most of the time, it’s about me, like, What was I thinking?
Tell me about one of your most memorable undercover moments?
My claim to fame in the Los Angeles Police Department is I prostituted in every place in the city. Just before the 1984 Olympics, we were working to get pimps and panderers off the street. I worked a long time undercover and then we made the arrests just before the Olympics. And then I got married and the night of, my husband and I pull up to one of the hotels, and the person who got us out of the car looked at me and knew me only as a prostitute. I was so humiliated because it was my wedding night. My husband thought it was hilarious. The guy’s winking at me, and I’m thinking, No, it’s not what you think.
How do you decompress?
I do a lot of gardening, and so with that, I do a lot of meditation. And then for big decompression, I like to scuba dive. So that’s kind of my underwater zen.