The LAPD welcomed Captain III Vito Palazzolo as new commanding officer of the Olympic Division. Palazzolo will join Captain I Julian Melendez to oversee nearly 270 officers serving the eastern portion of Windsor Square and Larchmont Village, much of Koreatown and the Byzantine Pico corridor, an area of approximately 6.26 square miles.
“We welcome in Captain Palazzolo as our new Commanding Officer and wish Captain Tina Nieto the best of luck in her new assignment as Commanding Officer of West Los Angeles Area,” an Olympic Division spokesperson told the Larchmont Buzz.
Captain Palazzolo moved to Los Angeles after migrating from Italy with his parents to the U.S. at the age of ten. He grew up in Northeast LA and joined the LAPD in 1990, where he worked a variety of assignments including patrol operations, traffic investigation, undercover surveillance, vice, and various special enforcement units. He has served as Commanding Officer of Southwest Area (home to USC and the LA Coliseum), was promoted to Captain II and assigned to the Internal Affairs Criminal Investigation Division, and eventually to the Metropolitan Division, recognized as one of the most prestigious special operation policing units in the country.
Captain Palazzolo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business, is a graduate of many specialty studies including the Delinquency Control Institute at USC, the West Point Leadership Institute, the Israeli College for Security and Investigation, and the United States Service Dignitary Protective Seminar.
Captain Palazzolo is excited about his new position here at Olympic and looks forward to getting to know the community. He taped the short one minute video below, for the community to get to know him just a bit.
