Michel Moore, the chief of police at the LAPD, and Robert Marino, the assistant chief, were visiting Marseille, venue for the sailing during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, along with their wives and two LAPD officers acting as security.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Moore, Marino and members of the French police left a restaurant when a man bumped into the chief’s wife, who then accused him of stealing her mobile phone.

The unnamed members of the LAPD security team then chased the man and arrested him, it was reported, before discovering he had not stolen anything, according to the French police.

The LAPD has now opened an investigation into why the officers made a wrongful arrest, 6,000 miles outside their authority, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The embarrassing incident took place during a week-long trip that had been organised so the leading LAPD officers could discuss security planning for Los Angeles 2028 with French officials.

The arrest led the man who was detained and others who were walking with him to file a complaint with the French authorities.

Those complaints were then reported to the United States Consulate in Marseille.

Moore called the affair an "unfortunate incident" and apologised to local officials in Marseille for the affair, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The day after the incident, Moore notified the LAPD’s Professional Standards Bureau of what happened, and "an administrative personnel complaint investigation was initiated against the officers who made the initial detention," the LAPD said.

Moore also apologised to Marseille officials and the US Consul General during a pre-scheduled meeting with them about Olympics planning, and told them he had initiated a complaint investigation, the LAPD said.

The Los Angeles Police Commission, which oversees police spending, had approved Moore's travel to France as well as $2,475 (£1,870/€2,195) in costs for Moore’s airfare and lodging.

A memo that went before the Los Angeles Police Commission seeking authorisation for the trip said Moore had been invited by the organisers of the 2024 Paris Olympics and intended to meet with officials from the French Ministry of Interior and several French police forces "to develop organisational security plans" ahead of the two upcoming Games.

"The exchange of information will include transportation and housing for both athletes/coaches and tourists; venue security, incident command and coordination between local, state, federal and international agencies, and emergency response planning and procedures," the memo said.

Murders in Los Angeles are on course to hit the city's highest rate for more than a decade.

Murders in the Californian city climbed from 293 in 2016 to 352 last year.

Figures are expected to reach more than 400 by the end of 2021.