History of the Los Angeles Police Department
Encyclopedia
The history of the Los Angeles Police Department is long and complex.
Los Angeles was known for its violence, gambling
and "vice
" and lack of effective civil law enforcement. It was reputed to have the highest murder rate in the United States at the time and the countryside was infested with bandits. Most men went armed with pistols and knives and lynching was often the method used to dispose of lawbreakers, courts being few and ineffective. The first specific [Los Angeles Police Department|Los Angeles police force]] was founded in 1853 as the Los Angeles Rangers, a volunteer California State Militia company that assisted the existing County Sheriff in enforcing the law until disbanded in 1857. The Rangers were supplemented from 1853 by the Los Angeles Guards, a local volunteer California State Militia company that lasted until 1880 and by the Los Angeles City Guards (1855-1861).
The first paid police force was created in 1869, when six officers were hired to serve under City Marshal
William C. Warren
. Warren was shot by one of his deputies, Joe Dye
, in 1870 in a quarrel over a reward. To replace Warren, the newly created Board of Police Commissioners selected Jacob F. Gerkens
. The latter was replaced within a year by saloon owner Emil Harris
, the second of fifteen police chiefs from 1876 to 1889.
The first chief to remain in office for any time was John M. Glass
; appointed in 1889, he served for eleven years and was a driving force for increased professionalism in the force. By 1900 there were 70 officers, one for every 1,500 people; in 1903, with the start of the Civil Service
, this force was increased to 200, although training was not introduced until 1916. The rapid turnover of chiefs was renewed in the 1900s as the office became increasingly politicized; from 1900 to 1923 there were sixteen different chiefs. The longest-lasting was Charles E. Sebastian
, who served from 1911-1915 before going on to become mayor
.
In 1910 the department promoted the first sworn female police officer with full powers in the United States, Alice Stebbins Wells
. Georgia Ann Robinson became the first African-American female police officer in the country in 1916.
the force became involved with federal
offenses, and much of the force was organized into a special Home Guard
. In the postwar period, the department became highly corrupt along with much of the city government; this state lasted until the late 1930s. Two police chiefs did work within a mandate for anti-corruption and reform. August Vollmer
laid the ground for future improvements but served for only a single year. James E. Davis
served from April 1, 1926 - December 29, 1929 and from August 10, 1933 - November 18, 1938. In his first term he fired almost a fifth of the force for bad conduct, and instituted extended firearms training and also the dragnet system
of policing. In his second term Davis instituted a "Red Squad" to attack Communists
and their offices.
With the replacement of Mayor Frank L. Shaw
in 1938, the city gained a reformist mayor in Fletcher Bowron
. He forced dozens of city commissioners out, as well as more than 45 LAPD officers. Bowron also appointed the first African American and the first woman to the Police Commission. The modernizer Arthur C. Hohmann
was made chief in 1939 and resigned in 1941 after a strike at the North American Aviation
plant in Inglewood
, in which he refused to use the LAPD as strikebreakers.
During World War II
, under Police Chief Clemence B. Horrall
, the force was heavily depleted by the demands of the armed forces; new recruits were given only six weeks training (twelve was normal). Despite the attempts to maintain numbers the police could do little to control the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots
. War Emergency personnel were given a "WE" designation with their badge numbers to distinguish them from other officers.
Among the department's more notorious cases of the Horrall years was the January 15, 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia
.
Horrall and Assistant Chief Joe Reed resigned in 1949 under threat of a grand jury investigation related to the Brenda Allen
scandal. One of Horrall and Reed's more enduring actions was to approve a radio show about the LAPD titled Dragnet
.
Horrall was replaced by a retired Marine
general, William A. Worton, who acted as interim chief until 1950, when William H. Parker
was chosen in tight competition with Thad Brown. Parker advocated police professionalism and autonomy from civilian administration, especially as concerns internal affairs. The Bloody Christmas
scandal in 1951 led to calls for civilian accountability and an end to police brutality
.
Parker served until his death in 1966 from a heart attack, the longest period in office of any Chief. The motto "To Protect and to Serve" was introduced in 1955. During this period the LAPD set the standards of professionalism echoed in the contemporaneous TV series Dragnet
and Adam-12
. The most serious challenge in this period was the 1965 Watts riots
following accusations of mistreatment and police brutality toward minority communities by the City and the LAPD.
Parker was succeeded by Thad Brown as acting chief in 1966, followed by Thomas Reddin
in 1967. Following an interim term by Chief Roger E. Murdock
, the outspoken Edward M. Davis
became chief in 1969; Chief Davis introduced a number of modern programs aimed at community policing, special street gang control units, as well as the SWAT
unit (1972); he retired in 1978.
The street gang control units were structured by Deputy Chief Louis Sporrer who commanded Operations South Bureau which was the Headquarters for the South Central Los Angeles police divisions. In 1972 street gangs were becoming a growing problem and initially were made-up of the best known gang structures of the Crips
and the Bloods
. A Gang Intelligence unit was set up in 77th Street Division headed by a Sergeant Robert Michael. A uniformed team was set up and given the acronym of TRASH, or Total Resources Against Street Hoodlums, headed by Sergeant Beno Hernandez. It was from this time on that the flattering term gang was dropped and the term 'hoodlums' was adopted.
Intelligence indicated that each gang had a 'leader', a few close 'associates' and follower 'acquaintances' and when the 'leader was removed by arrest and detention that crime in the groups area of control went down significantly, and when the leader returned, crime returned to its previous level. To address this phenomenon, and to give courts a better understanding of whom they were dealing with, a joint task force of police, probation, parole, schools, and others formed an entity with an acronym of DDCP, or Disposition Data Coordination Project. This entity was housed in the South Bureau, and coordinated by the Intelligence Sergeant II Robert Michael. DDCP was a pre-sentence gathering of reputation information in the community, allowed under California law to be considered by the Court.
The DDCP was a repository of sources for the court to consider in its sentencing disposition. Soon, however it was dubbed the Alpha File by several attorneys and the ACLU filed suit against the City of Los Angeles. The DDCP project was later terminated at the discretion of the City of Los Angeles. At about the same time complaints began being made, from activists outside the City and South Bureau area, that TRASH was demeaning to the group members. Chief Sporrer renamed the units CRASH, or Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, and it remained operational as it had been before the name change. These very effective police specialists are still policing today as they began in 1972 and still under the CRASH acronym.
Also, during the term of Chief Davis, the LAPD pioneered tactics and procedures that would serve as the blueprints of modern community-policing. Known as the "basic car plan" or "team policing" the department sought to build strong ties to the community through the permanent assignment and deployment of teams of officers - patrol, detectives, and supervisors—to identified geographic areas. This allowed the officers to develop a working knowledge of their community and fostered familiarity, trust and respect on the part of the community toward its police.
Under Davis the LAPD and its vice squad were known for active policing against gays
. Zealous officers, led by Detective Lloyd Martin, are purported to have dangled two youths over a cliff to try to make him reveal names of pedophile ring. On April 10, 1976 over a hundred officers, with Davis present, raided a charitable "slave auction" event and bragged to reporters that they had freed the slaves. Dozens of men were detained on charges of violating an 1899 anti-slavery statute, but the expensive raid was criticized by the city council and no one was convicted.
reduced the department's budget, cutting police numbers to less than 7,000 in seven years just as drug and gang crime reached unprecedented highs. To combat the rising tide of gang-related violence, Gates introduced Operation Hammer
in 1987, which resulted in an unprecedented number of arrests, mostly of black American and Hispanic
youths. Gates retired in 1992, just after the Rodney King
-related 1992 Los Angeles riots
in April and May and the damaging Christopher Commission Report, and was replaced by Willie L. Williams
, the fiftieth chief, the first African-American officer to hold the office and the first non-internal appointee for almost 40 years. In 1997 Williams was replaced by Bernard Parks
, during whose term the LAPD was rocked by the Rampart Division/CRASH
corruption scandal. In 1997 one of the biggest challenges for the LAPD and LAPD SWAT was the North Hollywood shootout
in which two bank robbers armed with automatic rifles and wearing body armor shot twelve responding officers and two bystanders. The suspects were eventually defeated by SWAT
units after a gun battle that lasted nearly an hour.
In November 1997, the Department did something for the first time in forty years in taking over another police department—the MTA Transit Police. Originally touted as a merger process, this became a political football with members of the City Council fighting the mayor's "one city—one police department" plan to eliminate all of the smaller, specialized police forces (Transit Police, Airport Police, School Police, Park Rangers, etc.). In the end, only about 130 of the originally slated 200 officers of the MTA Transit Police came to the LAPD, with about the same number going to the LASD. After less than five years, the MTA removed LAPD from the transit policing contract it had established with LAPD and LASD, and LASD was given the entire MTA contract. As of 2006, only 96 of those officers remained with the LAPD.
In 2002, after a loss of approximately 1,700 officers in two years, mostly to other Southern California police departments and in the face of an unprecedented homicide rate, Mayor Hahn moved to have the Board of Police Commissioners refuse to accept Parks' application for another five year term. Parks appealed to the City Council who refused to take up his cause. Parks initially threatened a lawsuit, but thought better of it and considered a run for City Council in the near future instead. Parks promptly left office, several months before his five year term was up. Former Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy was selected as an interim Chief until a permanent replacement could be found. Also in 2002, voters in the City passed the Proposition Q—Citywide Public Safety Bond to expand, renovate and replace existing police and fire facilities. This $600 million bond program included replacement of the West Valley, Rampart, Hollenbeck, and Harbor Police Stations; adding a new Emergency Operations Center; replacing the Parker Center Jail; adding a new Operations Valley Bureau/Valley Traffic Division; and adding two new Area Police Stations—20th (Olympic Area) and 21st (Topanga Area) Police Stations.
Chief William J. Bratton
came to the LAPD after having prior experience as Chief of Police for the NYPD, the NY City Transit Police, the Boston Police and the MBTA Transit Police. Bratton came in a manner very different from his most recent outsider predecessor, Chief Williams. Prior to his arrival, Bratton requested all captains and above submit resumes and biographies for consideration in his new administration. Bratton made his initial goals to fully implement the Federal Consent decree (left from the Parks administration), to implement a dramatic reduction in Part I crime and to create a world class counter-terrorism Bureau within LAPD (during Parks' tenure, a year after 9/11, officers still had no WMD training nor equipment, however to his credit, Parks had successfully implemented a "no US flag pin" policy for wear on officer's uniforms). Bratton later added community oriented policing to his list of goals. In 2005, the LAPD began showing action-packed mini-movies online and at movie theaters to promote recruiting. The movies feature real LAPD officers and what they do. Bratton retired as Chief of the LAPD on October 31, 2009 and became the chief executive officer of Altegrity Security Consulting, a private security firm based in Virginia.
On May 17, 2005, Los Angeles voters rejected a proposal (Proposition A) that would have merged LAPD and the Los Angeles Airport Police. The argument against this proposal was that officers of the Los Angeles Airport Police had more extensive training in airport law enforcement and security operations. LAPD officers would have needed more training in this new function. At the request of Airport Police, LAPD officers are assigned on an overtime basis to security checkpoints in the terminals at LAX. This assignment became available to LAPD officers and supervisory personnel due to staff shortages at the Airport Police.
In 2006, the Department temporarily relocated two LAPD stations, Hollenbeck and Harbor, to Temporary Stations, while the existing stations were demolished and new ones built on the same sites. Also in 2006, a long time goal of the Department, to replace Parker Center
began moving towards fruition with demolition of the old Caltrans building at 2nd/ Spring Streets to make way for a new Police Administration Building. The Department broke ground for two new Community Police Stations as well as a replacement of three older stations. The groundbreaking for the 20th (Olympic Area) Police Station, was on May 4, 2006. Groundbreaking for the 21st (Topanga Area) Police Station, was on May 11, 2006.
Replacement Rampart Station was built on the site of the former Central Receiving Hospital (police hospital) that had been located on 6th Street and Valencia Street. As a sidenote, exteriors from Rampart division on Rampart and Benton were filmed for the Adam-12
television series. The department does not permit the interiors of police stations filmed for motion picture purposes, so interiors were filmed at Universal Studios
in Universal City
, California
.
The 21st (Topanga Area) Police Station opened on January 4, 2009 and was formed from parts of the existing West Valley Area and Devonshire Area in the Operations-Valley Bureau. The 20th Area Police Station area will be formed from portions of Wilshire, Hollywood and Rampart Police Station areas. Three additional police stations are planned for additions in the next ten years (2007-2016). One each for the South, West and Central Bureaus of the Department.
In 2006, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
initiated gradual increases in trash collection fees paid by property owners to hire about 1,000 LAPD officers over the next five years.
On November 17, 2009, Charles L. Beck
was sworn in by Mayor Villaraigosa to succeed William J. Bratton
as the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. A 32-year veteran of the department, he is known for commanding and rehabilitating the Rampart Division after the Rampart Scandal.
The Los Angeles Police Department is world renowned for its training. Officers on the Department receive the best academic, tactical and physical conditioning in the field. However, as with almost any profession, there are still some hazards associated with the job. On February 7, 2008, when LAPD responded to a call that an emotionally disturbed man killed three of his family members, the man shot two SWAT officers, one of whom was killed. Officer Randal Simmons was the first SWAT officer to be killed in the line of duty since the founding of SWAT.
Early history
California Gold RushCalifornia Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
Los Angeles was known for its violence, gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
and "vice
Vice
Vice is a practice or a behavior or habit considered immoral, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit. Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption...
" and lack of effective civil law enforcement. It was reputed to have the highest murder rate in the United States at the time and the countryside was infested with bandits. Most men went armed with pistols and knives and lynching was often the method used to dispose of lawbreakers, courts being few and ineffective. The first specific [Los Angeles Police Department|Los Angeles police force]] was founded in 1853 as the Los Angeles Rangers, a volunteer California State Militia company that assisted the existing County Sheriff in enforcing the law until disbanded in 1857. The Rangers were supplemented from 1853 by the Los Angeles Guards, a local volunteer California State Militia company that lasted until 1880 and by the Los Angeles City Guards (1855-1861).
The first paid police force was created in 1869, when six officers were hired to serve under City Marshal
Los Angeles City Marshal
The Los Angeles City Marshal was the chief law enforcement officer of Los Angeles in the city's early years.The City Marshal was an office created in 1850 upon the city's incorporation. The title was City Marshal, Tax and Licence Collector. The title of Chief of Police was added in 1871. In 1876...
William C. Warren
William C. Warren (Los Angeles City Marshal)
William C. Warren was the first regularly employed law-enforcement officer in the city of Los Angeles.William C. Warren was born on a farm in southwestern Michigan in 1836. He migrated to California. by June 1860 Warren was the deputy of City Marshal Thomas Trafford and was living with him...
. Warren was shot by one of his deputies, Joe Dye
Joseph Franklin Dye
Joseph Franklin Dye , teamster, alleged member of the Mason Henry Gang, lawman, rancher and oilman.-Early life:Joseph Franklin Dye was born in Union County, Kentucky in 1831 as one of 16 children in a family that later settled in Texas. In 1849, he and two of his brothers came west in the...
, in 1870 in a quarrel over a reward. To replace Warren, the newly created Board of Police Commissioners selected Jacob F. Gerkens
Jacob F. Gerkens
Jacob F. Gerkens was a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council and the first police chief of that city after the abolition of the office of city marshal. He served for a little more than a year, from December 18, 1876 to December 26, 1877....
. The latter was replaced within a year by saloon owner Emil Harris
Emil Harris
Emil Harris was the only Jewish police chief in Los Angeles, California. He was appointed to serve for one year from 1877 to 1878. He was born in Prussia and immigrated to Los Angeles in 1869. He helped create the city's first volunteer fire department. He began on six-person police department...
, the second of fifteen police chiefs from 1876 to 1889.
John M. Glass
John M. Glass was a mayor of Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Chief of Police of Los Angeles, California.-Jeffersonville:John Glass was the Marshal of Jeffersonville, Indiana, from 1879 to 1883 before becoming the mayor of Jeffersonville. He defeated Luther Warder for mayoral and served as mayor from...
; appointed in 1889, he served for eleven years and was a driving force for increased professionalism in the force. By 1900 there were 70 officers, one for every 1,500 people; in 1903, with the start of the Civil Service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
, this force was increased to 200, although training was not introduced until 1916. The rapid turnover of chiefs was renewed in the 1900s as the office became increasingly politicized; from 1900 to 1923 there were sixteen different chiefs. The longest-lasting was Charles E. Sebastian
Charles E. Sebastian
Charles Edward Sebastian was the 30th mayor of Los Angeles, California, serving from 1915 to 1916.-Biography:He was born in Farmington, Missouri on March 30, 1873....
, who served from 1911-1915 before going on to become mayor
Mayor of Los Angeles, California
The mayor of Los Angeles is the chief executive officer of the city. He is elected for a four-year term and limited to serving no more than two terms. Under the California Constitution, all judicial, school, county, and city offices, including those of chartered cities, are nonpartisan...
.
In 1910 the department promoted the first sworn female police officer with full powers in the United States, Alice Stebbins Wells
Alice Stebbins Wells
Alice Stebbins Wells was the first American-born female police officer in the United States, hired in 1910 in Los Angeles...
. Georgia Ann Robinson became the first African-American female police officer in the country in 1916.
World Wars
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the force became involved with federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
offenses, and much of the force was organized into a special Home Guard
State Defense Forces
State defense forces in the United States are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government; they are partially regulated by the National Guard Bureau but they are not a part of the Army National Guard of the United States...
. In the postwar period, the department became highly corrupt along with much of the city government; this state lasted until the late 1930s. Two police chiefs did work within a mandate for anti-corruption and reform. August Vollmer
August Vollmer
August "Gus" Vollmer was a leading figure in the development of the field of criminal justice in the United States in the early 20th century. He was also the first police chief of Berkeley, California.-Youth:...
laid the ground for future improvements but served for only a single year. James E. Davis
James E. Davis (police)
James Edgar Davis was Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles Police Department from 1926–1931 and from 1933-1939. During his first term as Police Chief, Davis emphasized firearms training. Under Davis, the L.A.P.D. developed its lasting reputation as an organization that relied on brute force...
served from April 1, 1926 - December 29, 1929 and from August 10, 1933 - November 18, 1938. In his first term he fired almost a fifth of the force for bad conduct, and instituted extended firearms training and also the dragnet system
Dragnet (policing)
A dragnet is any system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects; including road barricades and traffic stops, widespread DNA tests, and general increased police alertness. The term derives from a fishing technique of dragging a fishing net across the sea bottom, or through a...
of policing. In his second term Davis instituted a "Red Squad" to attack Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and their offices.
With the replacement of Mayor Frank L. Shaw
Frank L. Shaw
Frank L. Shaw was the first mayor of a major American city to be recalled from office, in 1938. He was also a member of the Los Angeles City Council and then the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors...
in 1938, the city gained a reformist mayor in Fletcher Bowron
Fletcher Bowron
Fletcher Bowron was the 35th Mayor of Los Angeles, California from September 26, 1938 until June 30, 1953. Until Thomas Bradley passed his length of service during the 1980s, Bowron held the distinction of having the longest tenure in that position in city history.Bowron was born in Poway,...
. He forced dozens of city commissioners out, as well as more than 45 LAPD officers. Bowron also appointed the first African American and the first woman to the Police Commission. The modernizer Arthur C. Hohmann
Arthur C. Hohmann
Arthur Clarence Hohmann served as Los Angeles Police Department Chief of Police from 1939 to 1941, when he voluntarily relinquished the position during a police corruption scandal. Hohmann was the 40th Chief of the L.A.P.D., succeeding acting Chief David A. Davidson in July 1939...
was made chief in 1939 and resigned in 1941 after a strike at the North American Aviation
North American Aviation
North American Aviation was a major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service...
plant in Inglewood
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
, in which he refused to use the LAPD as strikebreakers.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, under Police Chief Clemence B. Horrall
Clemence B. Horrall
Clemence B. Horrall was Los Angeles Police Department Chief of Police from June 16, 1941, when he succeeded Arthur C. Hohmann to serve as the 41st Chief of the L.A.P.D., and June 28, 1949, when he resigned under pressure during a grand jury investigation of police corruption...
, the force was heavily depleted by the demands of the armed forces; new recruits were given only six weeks training (twelve was normal). Despite the attempts to maintain numbers the police could do little to control the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots
Zoot Suit Riots
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that erupted in Los Angeles, California between white sailors and Marines stationed throughout thehi c mlc city and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored...
. War Emergency personnel were given a "WE" designation with their badge numbers to distinguish them from other officers.
Among the department's more notorious cases of the Horrall years was the January 15, 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia
Black Dahlia
"The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short is an American woman and the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. She acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly colorful...
.
Horrall and Assistant Chief Joe Reed resigned in 1949 under threat of a grand jury investigation related to the Brenda Allen
Brenda Allen
Brenda Allen was a madam based in Los Angeles, California whose arrest in 1948 triggered a scandal that led to the reform of the Los Angeles Police Department . Allen received police protection due to her relationship with Sergeant Elmer V...
scandal. One of Horrall and Reed's more enduring actions was to approve a radio show about the LAPD titled Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
.
Professionalism
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
general, William A. Worton, who acted as interim chief until 1950, when William H. Parker
William H. Parker (LAPD)
William Henry Parker III was the police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and has been called "... Los Angeles's greatest and most controversial chief of police"...
was chosen in tight competition with Thad Brown. Parker advocated police professionalism and autonomy from civilian administration, especially as concerns internal affairs. The Bloody Christmas
Bloody Christmas
Bloody Christmas was the name given to the severe beating of seven men by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department on December 25, 1951. The attacks, which left five Latino and two White young men with broken bones and ruptured organs, was only properly investigated after lobbying from the...
scandal in 1951 led to calls for civilian accountability and an end to police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
.
Parker served until his death in 1966 from a heart attack, the longest period in office of any Chief. The motto "To Protect and to Serve" was introduced in 1955. During this period the LAPD set the standards of professionalism echoed in the contemporaneous TV series Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
and Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
. The most serious challenge in this period was the 1965 Watts riots
Watts Riots
The Watts Riots or the Watts Rebellion was a civil disturbance in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California from August 11 to August 15, 1965. The 5-day riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, and 3,438 arrests...
following accusations of mistreatment and police brutality toward minority communities by the City and the LAPD.
Edward M. Davis as Chief
Thomas Reddin
Thomas Reddin was a Los Angeles Police Department chief from 1967 to 1969. He left May 6, 1969, to become a news commentator...
in 1967. Following an interim term by Chief Roger E. Murdock
Roger E. Murdock
Roger Eugene Murdock served as interim LAPD police chief in 1969 after Thomas Reddin had left to pursue a job in the media industry. He graduated from Los Angeles High School and USC, where he earned a degree with honors in public administration...
, the outspoken Edward M. Davis
Edward M. Davis
Edward Michael Davis was the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from , and later a California State Senator from and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1986...
became chief in 1969; Chief Davis introduced a number of modern programs aimed at community policing, special street gang control units, as well as the SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
unit (1972); he retired in 1978.
The street gang control units were structured by Deputy Chief Louis Sporrer who commanded Operations South Bureau which was the Headquarters for the South Central Los Angeles police divisions. In 1972 street gangs were becoming a growing problem and initially were made-up of the best known gang structures of the Crips
Crips
The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams...
and the Bloods
Bloods
The Bloods are a street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. They are identified by the red color worn by their members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs...
. A Gang Intelligence unit was set up in 77th Street Division headed by a Sergeant Robert Michael. A uniformed team was set up and given the acronym of TRASH, or Total Resources Against Street Hoodlums, headed by Sergeant Beno Hernandez. It was from this time on that the flattering term gang was dropped and the term 'hoodlums' was adopted.
Intelligence indicated that each gang had a 'leader', a few close 'associates' and follower 'acquaintances' and when the 'leader was removed by arrest and detention that crime in the groups area of control went down significantly, and when the leader returned, crime returned to its previous level. To address this phenomenon, and to give courts a better understanding of whom they were dealing with, a joint task force of police, probation, parole, schools, and others formed an entity with an acronym of DDCP, or Disposition Data Coordination Project. This entity was housed in the South Bureau, and coordinated by the Intelligence Sergeant II Robert Michael. DDCP was a pre-sentence gathering of reputation information in the community, allowed under California law to be considered by the Court.
The DDCP was a repository of sources for the court to consider in its sentencing disposition. Soon, however it was dubbed the Alpha File by several attorneys and the ACLU filed suit against the City of Los Angeles. The DDCP project was later terminated at the discretion of the City of Los Angeles. At about the same time complaints began being made, from activists outside the City and South Bureau area, that TRASH was demeaning to the group members. Chief Sporrer renamed the units CRASH, or Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, and it remained operational as it had been before the name change. These very effective police specialists are still policing today as they began in 1972 and still under the CRASH acronym.
Also, during the term of Chief Davis, the LAPD pioneered tactics and procedures that would serve as the blueprints of modern community-policing. Known as the "basic car plan" or "team policing" the department sought to build strong ties to the community through the permanent assignment and deployment of teams of officers - patrol, detectives, and supervisors—to identified geographic areas. This allowed the officers to develop a working knowledge of their community and fostered familiarity, trust and respect on the part of the community toward its police.
Under Davis the LAPD and its vice squad were known for active policing against gays
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. Zealous officers, led by Detective Lloyd Martin, are purported to have dangled two youths over a cliff to try to make him reveal names of pedophile ring. On April 10, 1976 over a hundred officers, with Davis present, raided a charitable "slave auction" event and bragged to reporters that they had freed the slaves. Dozens of men were detained on charges of violating an 1899 anti-slavery statute, but the expensive raid was criticized by the city council and no one was convicted.
1978–2002
The successor to Davis, Daryl F. Gates, came into office just as Proposition 13California Proposition 13 (1978)
Proposition 13 was an amendment of the Constitution of California enacted during 1978, by means of the initiative process. It was approved by California voters on June 6, 1978. It was declared constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Nordlinger v. Hahn,...
reduced the department's budget, cutting police numbers to less than 7,000 in seven years just as drug and gang crime reached unprecedented highs. To combat the rising tide of gang-related violence, Gates introduced Operation Hammer
Operation Hammer
A Los Angeles Police Department C.R.A.S.H. initiative that began in April 1987, Operation Hammer was a large scale attempt to crack down on gang violence in Los Angeles, California. After a group of people at a birthday party were shot down on their front lawn in a drive-by shooting, Chief of...
in 1987, which resulted in an unprecedented number of arrests, mostly of black American and Hispanic
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
youths. Gates retired in 1992, just after the Rodney King
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...
-related 1992 Los Angeles riots
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles Riots or South Central Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted three white and one hispanic Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a...
in April and May and the damaging Christopher Commission Report, and was replaced by Willie L. Williams
Willie L. Williams
Willie L. Williams was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1992 to 1997, taking over after chief Daryl Gates' resignation following the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Williams was the first African-American police commissioner of both the Philadelphia Police Department and the LAPD...
, the fiftieth chief, the first African-American officer to hold the office and the first non-internal appointee for almost 40 years. In 1997 Williams was replaced by Bernard Parks
Bernard C. Parks
Bernard C. Parks is an American politician. He is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles. He served as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from August 1997 to May 2002...
, during whose term the LAPD was rocked by the Rampart Division/CRASH
Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums
Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, usually known by the acronym C.R.A.S.H., was an elite, but controversial special operations unit of the Los Angeles Police Department. It was established by then-chief Daryl Gates to combat the rising problem of gangs in Los Angeles, California...
corruption scandal. In 1997 one of the biggest challenges for the LAPD and LAPD SWAT was the North Hollywood shootout
North Hollywood shootout
The North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily armed bank robbers and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997...
in which two bank robbers armed with automatic rifles and wearing body armor shot twelve responding officers and two bystanders. The suspects were eventually defeated by SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
units after a gun battle that lasted nearly an hour.
In November 1997, the Department did something for the first time in forty years in taking over another police department—the MTA Transit Police. Originally touted as a merger process, this became a political football with members of the City Council fighting the mayor's "one city—one police department" plan to eliminate all of the smaller, specialized police forces (Transit Police, Airport Police, School Police, Park Rangers, etc.). In the end, only about 130 of the originally slated 200 officers of the MTA Transit Police came to the LAPD, with about the same number going to the LASD. After less than five years, the MTA removed LAPD from the transit policing contract it had established with LAPD and LASD, and LASD was given the entire MTA contract. As of 2006, only 96 of those officers remained with the LAPD.
In 2002, after a loss of approximately 1,700 officers in two years, mostly to other Southern California police departments and in the face of an unprecedented homicide rate, Mayor Hahn moved to have the Board of Police Commissioners refuse to accept Parks' application for another five year term. Parks appealed to the City Council who refused to take up his cause. Parks initially threatened a lawsuit, but thought better of it and considered a run for City Council in the near future instead. Parks promptly left office, several months before his five year term was up. Former Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy was selected as an interim Chief until a permanent replacement could be found. Also in 2002, voters in the City passed the Proposition Q—Citywide Public Safety Bond to expand, renovate and replace existing police and fire facilities. This $600 million bond program included replacement of the West Valley, Rampart, Hollenbeck, and Harbor Police Stations; adding a new Emergency Operations Center; replacing the Parker Center Jail; adding a new Operations Valley Bureau/Valley Traffic Division; and adding two new Area Police Stations—20th (Olympic Area) and 21st (Topanga Area) Police Stations.
William J. Bratton as Chief
William J. Bratton
William Joseph "Bill" Bratton CBE is an American law enforcement officer who served as the chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department , New York City Police Commissioner, and Boston Police Commissioner....
came to the LAPD after having prior experience as Chief of Police for the NYPD, the NY City Transit Police, the Boston Police and the MBTA Transit Police. Bratton came in a manner very different from his most recent outsider predecessor, Chief Williams. Prior to his arrival, Bratton requested all captains and above submit resumes and biographies for consideration in his new administration. Bratton made his initial goals to fully implement the Federal Consent decree (left from the Parks administration), to implement a dramatic reduction in Part I crime and to create a world class counter-terrorism Bureau within LAPD (during Parks' tenure, a year after 9/11, officers still had no WMD training nor equipment, however to his credit, Parks had successfully implemented a "no US flag pin" policy for wear on officer's uniforms). Bratton later added community oriented policing to his list of goals. In 2005, the LAPD began showing action-packed mini-movies online and at movie theaters to promote recruiting. The movies feature real LAPD officers and what they do. Bratton retired as Chief of the LAPD on October 31, 2009 and became the chief executive officer of Altegrity Security Consulting, a private security firm based in Virginia.
On May 17, 2005, Los Angeles voters rejected a proposal (Proposition A) that would have merged LAPD and the Los Angeles Airport Police. The argument against this proposal was that officers of the Los Angeles Airport Police had more extensive training in airport law enforcement and security operations. LAPD officers would have needed more training in this new function. At the request of Airport Police, LAPD officers are assigned on an overtime basis to security checkpoints in the terminals at LAX. This assignment became available to LAPD officers and supervisory personnel due to staff shortages at the Airport Police.
In 2006, the Department temporarily relocated two LAPD stations, Hollenbeck and Harbor, to Temporary Stations, while the existing stations were demolished and new ones built on the same sites. Also in 2006, a long time goal of the Department, to replace Parker Center
Parker Center
Parker Center was the headquarters for the Los Angeles Police Department from 1954 until October 2009, and is located in Downtown LA. It is named for former LAPD chief William H. Parker. Originally with the prosaic name, the Police Administration Building, ground for the center was broken on...
began moving towards fruition with demolition of the old Caltrans building at 2nd/ Spring Streets to make way for a new Police Administration Building. The Department broke ground for two new Community Police Stations as well as a replacement of three older stations. The groundbreaking for the 20th (Olympic Area) Police Station, was on May 4, 2006. Groundbreaking for the 21st (Topanga Area) Police Station, was on May 11, 2006.
Replacement Rampart Station was built on the site of the former Central Receiving Hospital (police hospital) that had been located on 6th Street and Valencia Street. As a sidenote, exteriors from Rampart division on Rampart and Benton were filmed for the Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
television series. The department does not permit the interiors of police stations filmed for motion picture purposes, so interiors were filmed at Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
in Universal City
Universal City, California
Universal City is a community in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, that encompasses the 415 acre property of Universal Studios...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
The 21st (Topanga Area) Police Station opened on January 4, 2009 and was formed from parts of the existing West Valley Area and Devonshire Area in the Operations-Valley Bureau. The 20th Area Police Station area will be formed from portions of Wilshire, Hollywood and Rampart Police Station areas. Three additional police stations are planned for additions in the next ten years (2007-2016). One each for the South, West and Central Bureaus of the Department.
In 2006, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...
initiated gradual increases in trash collection fees paid by property owners to hire about 1,000 LAPD officers over the next five years.
On November 17, 2009, Charles L. Beck
Charles L. Beck
Charles Lloyd Beck is the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department . A veteran of the department with over three decades of service, he is known for commanding and rehabilitating the Rampart Division after the Rampart Scandal; and for technology enhancements during his time as Chief of...
was sworn in by Mayor Villaraigosa to succeed William J. Bratton
William J. Bratton
William Joseph "Bill" Bratton CBE is an American law enforcement officer who served as the chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department , New York City Police Commissioner, and Boston Police Commissioner....
as the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. A 32-year veteran of the department, he is known for commanding and rehabilitating the Rampart Division after the Rampart Scandal.
The Los Angeles Police Department is world renowned for its training. Officers on the Department receive the best academic, tactical and physical conditioning in the field. However, as with almost any profession, there are still some hazards associated with the job. On February 7, 2008, when LAPD responded to a call that an emotionally disturbed man killed three of his family members, the man shot two SWAT officers, one of whom was killed. Officer Randal Simmons was the first SWAT officer to be killed in the line of duty since the founding of SWAT.