Around 8:30 p.m., an officer found the two stolen SUVs driving in tandem and a chase started. A third vehicle went missing, but was later recovered, according to Beck.
A third police vehicle was later recovered, around the corner from a police station. Three suspects were taken into custody.
The trio ages 15, 16 and 17 "gamed the system" and used a vacationing sergeant's name to sign out stun guns and radios and drive the cars right out of a stationhouse parking lot, Beck said.
All three teens were arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft and other charges. One of the juvenile cadets was wearing an LAPD bulletproof vest when they were arrested on Wednesday night, Beck said. After interviewing the suspects, officers realized there was a third patrol vehicle that was missing.
An officer crashed into a civilian vehicle near the intersection of Gage Avenue and Broadway during the chase, police said. Beck added that the cadets may have impersonated police officers when they had the cruisers in their possession, and advises people to call the LAPD if they believed they'd encountered "very young-appearing male and female partners" recently.
If the investigations show that the teenagers also impersonated the police, then they will be separately penalized for the offense.
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Beck said it was "not easy" to check out a police vehicle, and cadets are not supposed to have access to them.
Those volunteer hours are likely way less fun than slamming an LAPD SUV into the side of a building and prompting a top-down review of the cadet program. Police vehicles are part of an automated system where members of the LAPD must sign the vehicles in and out.
One of the cars may have been missing since late May, according to Beck, who said investigators are still trying to piece together a timeline of the cadets' alleged actions.
Mr Beck said he had ordered a thorough review of the department's cadet programme and inventory management procedures. "We're going to take this apart top to bottom".
"And so we're going to look at this and look how they did it, and we're going to make sure it can't be replicated", he said.
The mistakes "may not be as egregious as this", he said, and the department wants to avoid giving "anybody the ability to cross the line if we can help it".
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