Blake Chow

Early life and education

Chow was born and raised in San Jose California. After attending Archbishop Mitty High School, he went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and graduated with a degree in Business/Finance.

Early career

In 1988 Chow joined the San Jose Police Department Reserves and began a search for a full-time job as a police officer. Chow joined the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 1990. After graduating second in his academy class, his first assignment was as a probationary officer in Pacific Division. He then served as an undercover and Special Problems Unit officer for three years in downtown Los Angeles, working out of Central Area.

Sergeant and Lieutenant

After working in downtown LA and as a training Officer in Rampart, Chow was promoted to Sergeant and transferred to Southeast Area. After working as a field Sergeant in Southeast, he was assigned as a Vice Officer in Charge and eventually was promoted to Lieutenant in 1999. As a Lieutenant, Blake was assigned Pacific Area and was responsible for the Venice Beach Detail, which policed an area that is in the top 5 tourist attractions in Los Angeles, easily drawing 100,000 visitor or more each weekend./ In 2001, he was transferred to LAPD's Risk Management Division where he established the Categorical Use of Force and Non-Categorical Use of Force review sections. Both sections to this day are responsible for analysis and reporting of all LAPD uses of force.

Captain

In 2003 Blake was promoted to Captain. His first assignment was at Hollenbeck Division. He then was assigned as the first Asian captain to preside over Central Area, which includes Chinatown. He also became the highest ranking Chinese American Officer in the LAPD, a distinction that he still holds. In 2005, Blake was transferred to Los Angeles International Airport Field Services Division. In this position, he was responsible for the general airport security and safety while working with the Transportation Security Administration, FBI, ICE and LAWAPD. Later that year, Blake was promoted to Captain III and given the responsibility to start a new division. The new organization was called Real Time Analysis and Critical Response Division. RACR Division was organized to do three functions. First, to analyze crime city-wide on a real-time basis to look for patterns and make deployment recommendations. Second, to track the state of the City of Los Angeles. This included tracking all uniformed resources, the state of radio calls and other indicators to constantly monitor the state of the 500 square miles (1,300 km²) of Los Angeles. Third, RACR was designed as the Department Command Post and would be used to manage the city during major occurrences, whether they be natural or man-made. RACR was the first 24/7 fusion center in the city; possibly the western United States.

In 2007 Blake was assigned as the Area Captain for the Hollenbeck Area, where he was instrumental in making inroads to community previously cut off from communication and participation in City government. Through the efforts of his employees, Hollenbeck Area reported record drops in the homicide rate; numbers which could not be replicated going back as far as 1975.

Later in 2008 he was transferred to Central Area. By this time, the downtown L.A. area had experienced a renaissance. This area had become a community of residents, businesses, visitors and workers, with a 24/7 agenda. In this position, Blake was responsible for the Staples Center, L.A. Live, Fashion District, Jewelry District, Bank District, Historic Core, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, Arts District and Skid Row. During his tenure, working with the many community partners, Blake's division knocked crime down almost 11 percent.

Commander

In 2010, Chief Beck promoted Blake to the Rank of Commander. He was assigned the Operations-Central Bureau, which has command of 6 Divisions. They are Central, Rampart, Hollenbeck, Newton, Northeast and Central Traffic Division. The general population of these areas is about 180,000 and it is policed by about 1,300 officers.

Later in 2010, Blake was transferred to Assistant Commander, Counter Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau. In this command he shares LAPD's counter terrorism programs, Bomb Squad, Hazardous Materials Team, METRO, SWAT, K9, Mounted, Air Support and Command Post.

Blake is the first Chinese American to be promoted to Commander in the LAPD's 140 year history. This year he was awarded the History Makers Award by the Los Angeles Chinese American Museum.

In May 2013 Blake was featured as a KTLA Channel 5 "Dreamer- Asian Pacific Heritage Month" Recognizing accomplishments in Southern California