Mike “Del” DeLadurantey

Del was born in Watertown, New York in 1952 and at the age of two moved to Whittier, CA. He spent the next 20 years in Whittier—attending Catholic school until 6th grade. He then went to Monte Vista High School where he excelled in baseball, earning “All League” honors in both his Junior & Senior years. Del graduated in 1970 and went to Rio Hondo College where he again played baseball.

In ‘71 he played AAA ball in the summer league for the St Louis Cardinals. Del was a police explorer on the LASO, Norwalk Station from ‘68 to ‘70 where he attained the rank of Captain. From ‘72 to ‘75 Del attended Long Beach State and got a BS in Criminology. From ‘69 until ‘75 he worked for a Veterinarian. Del was one of the first licensed Veterinarian Tech. in California. He decided not to pursue a career along that line, instead focusing on a career in Law Enforcement. Del tested at Newport and LASO on the same day, having driven his Honda Dream M/C all the way from Whittier to Newport to take the test. In February of ‘75 Del was called by Newport to come to work. His brother, a Lt. (at the time) at LAPD encouraged him to take the job in Newport because it was a well run department. Del attended the LAPD Academy. During the academy training he was assigned to a “weekend out” ride along. His training officer on those particular days was Danny Crickett. Del told about one of his ride-alongs with Crickett. He said they got a call to The Stag and Crickett told him to wait at the door while he went in to talk to the bartender. Del said a drunk staggered up and broke the mirror of a car in front of the Stag. Having just had a class on choke holds he decided to try it out and choked out the drunk. When Crickett came out and saw the drunk laying on the sidewalk he told Del, “You will fit in just fine here.” Del went to the LAPD Academy a month behind Bob Stephens, Ken Weigand, and Doug Parmentier. When he got out of the academy his training officers were Beswick, Stoddard, Jackson and Joe Lambert. Del’s first assignment was Patrol, working 126. After a year he became an FTO. He worked in helicopters from ‘76 to ‘78 as an observer. The pilots were Grundeman, Golfos, Harry Williams and Bruce Foster. In ‘78 he went into CSU and worked with George Coelho. Del related the following story about his first days in CSU: “Coelho was the Sgt. in charge and he told me and CC Clark that they were having a problem with men approaching other men in the public restrooms at the pier and soliciting them for sexual favors. He told us we needed to go undercover into the bathroom at the pier. He instructed that when we heard someone shuffling their feet on the sandy sidewalk we were supposed to stand at the Urinal and stare at each other. We were standing at the urinal when we heard someone scraping their feet on the sandy sidewalk. So, we assumed the position of going to the bathroom and staring at each other. Well, in walks Coelho and Al Fisher with a camera taking pictures of us staring at each other. We had been had!” In ‘79 Del went into CSI for 3 years. He said it was one of the best jobs he ever had. While he was in CSI he worked numerous high profile cases as well as a number of detailed officer involved shootings. Del worked the Burg detail from ‘82 to ’86; went to Traffic from ‘90 to ‘93 where he worked AI, TI and TEO. While he was in Traffic as TEO he had an opportunity to cohost a radio show on KOCN FM 103.1 about local updates. He also took a lot of calls about the Rodney King beating. In 1993 Del went back to Patrol and became a fixture in 214. He made sure everyone on the Peninsula knew him and could talk to him about any problems they had. Between Del and Bob Stephens the Peninsula was safe for the next 10 years. Del retired in 2003. Del married Leslie in 1998 after a 10 year courtship. Del has two sons by his first marriage, both having successful careers in the field of Law Enforcement. Del and Leslie love to travel and have been to Europe, Greece and New Zealand just to name a few. Del has a Grady White fishing boat and loves to spend his time fishing. Interviewed by Stan Bressler