In the late 1980's public opinion polls showed that Southern Californians believed narcotics to be the most serious criminal problem faced by law enforcement. Because of the crackdown of drugs entering through Miami, drug smugglers had shifted their activities to the west, and many law enforcement agencies considered Los Angeles County to be the new drug distribution hub for the entire nation. To combat these and other related issues, the Los Angeles County Police Chief’s Association along with the heads of the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department agreed that the time had come to join forces and devise a regional solution. As a result, LA CLEAR – the Los Angeles Regional Criminal Information Clearinghouse – was born.

By 1994 LA CLEAR was awarded Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) funding to expand its programs to support agencies throughout the operational area of the Los Angeles Metropolitan HIDTA (LA-HIDTA), which encompasses Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Over the years LA CLEAR has grown in size and scope and is now nationally recognized as a model HIDTA Intelligence Support Center (ISC).

We provide strategic investigative research and post seizure analysis; tactical case support analysis; electronic surveillance and operational support; as well as training and conference opportunities to more than 230 agencies in the LA HIDTA.

Additionally, LA CLEAR provides real-time “officer safety” related event, subject/case deconfliction services, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the Los Angeles HIDTA. Collectively LA CLEAR provides these services to 205 agencies & task forces within 4 counties that comprise these HIDTA regions. This core capability has made LA CLEAR a global model for operational officer-safety support. LA CLEAR continues to expand its capabilities as new information systems and services evolve to meet the growing demand for time-critical decision support information.

LA CLEAR is a tactical and strategic intelligence operation that, by design does not conduct independent investigations, but rather supports needs of the investigator and their home agency or task force in criminal investigations.

LA CLEAR is managed by law enforcement executives, and is staffed by a fully-integrated team of non-sworn law enforcement, military and contract specialists organized into component units: The Intelligence & Deconfliction Watch Center; The Analytical Unit; The Los Angeles HIDTA Training Initiative, hosted by LA CLEAR ; The Information Systems Support Unit; and The Administrative Support Services Unit. Today, LA CLEAR stands alone as the only all-inclusive, full-spectrum, investigative and intelligence support initiative within the Los Angeles HIDTA, organized and equipped entirely to support law enforcement customer agencies and task forces with state-of-the-art services, support and technologies which are otherwise unavailable to the working investigator under one roof.

LA CLEAR also stands proudly in partnership with the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC) and the Inland Narcotics Clearing House INCH) as one of three Intelligence Support Centers that collectively comprise the Los Angeles HIDTA Intelligence Support System (ISS). Working in concert, the ISS provides the Los Angeles HIDTA with unparalleled capabilities.

Our vision for the future
The Los Angeles Regional Criminal Information Clearinghouse’s (LA CLEAR) vision is to become the premier, internationally-recognized criminal intelligence task force, fostering unparalleled criminal intelligence analysis, collaborative information sharing and cutting-edge investigative support services to all of our law enforcement partners.