Raised by a single mother, Deputy Chief Emada E. Tingirides is a native Angeleno who spent most of her youth in Watts and Southwest Los Angeles, before moving to Chatsworth for her high school and college years. The daughter of a Nurse Practitioner who spent the early part of her career at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, and grandchild to both a Los Angeles County Sheriff Corrections Officer and a teacher of 35 years, Emada decided to become a police officer and serve the city her family had called home for generations, following the civil unrest of 1992.
After successfully completing her probationary period as a police officer in West Los Angeles Area in 1995, Emada spent time patrolling Downtown Los Angeles (Central Area) before moving to Southwest Area, where she served as a Senior Lead Officer for five years. Emada promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 2006 and spent just over a year at Harbor Area, before receiving an opportunity to give back to the community she grew up in, as the Officer in Charge of the Community Relations Office at Southeast Area Community Police Station. While in Southeast Area, Emada invested in the community and worked tirelessly to bridge the historical gap between law enforcement and the community it serves. During her little bit of free time, Emada returned to college and earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from National University.
In 2011, Emada was selected by then Chief of Police Charlie Beck to work with Constance L. “Connie” Rice of the Advancement Project on the creation, implementation, and coordination of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) program. The relationship-based policing model that defines CSP was borne from a need to find new and innovative ways to address quality-of-life issues in some of Los Angeles’ most underserved communities. Incorporating a dedicated team of officers into several public housing communities, helped enable residents to get involved in programs, advocate for themselves, and thrive without the fear of crime in their community. As relationships were forged and community trust increased, crime at each of the CSP sites dropped dramatically.
2015 was quite the year for Emada, as she was named the Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine, one of Los Angeles’ Most Influential Women by Los Angeles Magazine, and was a distinguished guest of First Lady Michelle Obama during the State of the Union Address.
Emada remained in South Los Angeles after being promoted to Lieutenant in June of 2016 and was assigned to 77th Street Area as a watch commander. Once again attending school during her free time, Emada received her Masters of Advance Study in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of California Irvine shortly thereafter.
After nearly three years as a Lieutenant, Emada promoted to the rank of Captain in May of 2019 and as fate would have it, was assigned to Southeast Area as the Patrol Commanding Officer.
In August of 2020, Emada was promoted to Deputy Chief and was named the Commanding Officer of the newly-formed Community Safety Partnership Bureau (CSPB) by Chief of Police Michel Moore, where she assumed oversight of the now ten CSP teams spread across eight developments and two parks throughout the City.
While at CSPB, Emada has worked with her team to promote and extend the philosophies and components that have made the CSP program so successful to all corners of the Department.
Emada is married to retired Deputy Chief Philip Tingirides, with whom she has a beautiful blended family of six children.