Tales of the city

There are a million stories in the naked city and the LAPD has them on film. Dating from the 1920s through the '60s, a trove of historical negatives shot by police photographers through the years will be cataloged and preserved, according to the LAPD's blog.

Because of the project’s magnitude, the city has opted to outsource the task of establishing a database for digital scans of each negative. The work will involve sorting, identifying and electronically scanning every image. The newly digitized files will then populate a database capable of accommodating queries based on any number of search criteria.

The project will be funded in part by fees paid to the LAPD by film and TV companies. The images, which are divided among several film vaults, range from crime scenes and accidents to cityscapes and life within the LAPD. A peek at some of the pix the LAPD has already digitzed here.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo - Courtesy of LAPD