Lieutenant II Amira Eppolito has been employed with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) since 1996 and has worked a variety of assignments during her tenure. In her current assignment, she is assigned to Gang and Narcotics Division, responsible for the Fugitive Warrant Section and the Gun Unit. A few of her assignments while working in the LAPD include being the Coordinator for the Recruit Basic Course (Police Academy), Recruitment and Hiring, Watch Commander, field investigator, an auditor for police performance accountability audits, as well as a researcher and writer at Planning and Research Division. Her law enforcement tenure includes 13 years as a detective and 18 years of supervisory experience.
Lieutenant Eppolito has also served as the Presenter for the Robert Presley Institute of Criminal Investigation (ICI) program in Los Angeles during her assignment as the Officer in Charge of the Detective Training Unit in Training Division. In this assignment, her responsibilities included oversight of the ICI Detective Symposium, ICI courses and contracts, gang, and other investigative training for detectives. In 2013, she received the distinguished ICI Founders Award from the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). In 2009, Lieutenant Eppolito successfully completed the requirements of the Master Instructor Development Course. As a result of this program, she has designed the curriculum for LAPD’s Interview and Interrogation Course, Police Science and Leadership’s Building the Community Leader Course, and the ICI Human Trafficking Course. Lieutenant Eppolito is an experienced evaluator in POST’s Quality Assessment Program to aid presenters in their course design and instructional methods for the POST-certified course(s) they present. She is also on the instructor cadre in the LAPD Leadership Program and the Peer Support Course, teaching leadership concepts and emotional intelligence in law enforcement.
Lieutenant Eppolito graduated from California Polytechnic University, Pomona with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1995. She is also a graduate of the LAPD Leadership, Sherman Block Institute Leadership, and POST Management Courses. She has served on the Steering Committee for LAPD’s Peer Support Program and the Resiliency Task Force, for which she was awarded the Police Meritorious Service Medal on May 2, 2020, for her efforts toward addressing officer suicides and organizing an annual walk. In May 2023, she obtained her master’s degree at the University of Southern California, in the Executive Master of Leadership Program.
Lieutenant Eppolito was elected as the treasurer of the Los Angeles Woman Police Officer and Associates (LAWPOA) in March of 2021. During her tenure as a Board Member, she balances the budget for the 503(c)1 nonprofit organization and has helped increase revenue by 36%. She also created a Maternity Uniform loan program and has provided 18 maternity uniforms to women to date. To this end, she helped acquire and renovate space at the Elysian Park Academy for this purpose. Amira Has been instrumental in planning and coordinating the annual Women’s Symposium and provides and coordinates mentor training, promotion seminars, and mock oral interview sessions to help employees advance in their careers. She is passionate about the 30X30 pledge to recruit and retain more women in law enforcement and has recently developed a data-driven Women in Law Enforcement Leadership Course.
