Chief Daryl Gates passes away on April 16, 2010

From early 1981 to 1992, the year of LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates' retirement, I served the City of Angels as an LAPD officer under Chief Gates. Chief Gates, age 83, died April 16, 2010 after a bout with cancer. His death, and the many obituaries, have inspired me to jot down some of my thoughts about his tenure as Chief.

At my academy graduation ceremony, Chief Gates eloquently spoke of the need to have "reverence for the law." I later learned that "reverence for the law" was a recurrent theme of the Chief's.

Chief Gates often spoke of the LAPD family. In fact, his retirement party in 1992 was officially called the "LAPD Family Reunion." At this reunion, which was held at the iconic Police Academy across from Dodger Stadium, and from which the media was barred, Department command staff barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs and served them to their subordinates, sworn and civilian alike. And like traditional blood-related families, Chief Gates stood by and supported - sometimes too long - those who made mistakes and strayed from the straight and narrow. The Chief also often showed "tough love" to family members who strayed from the law or from department policies by administering harsh discipline, including termination.

Chief Gates served during a "do more with less" time. At the time of his retirement, 7700 officers served LA. And this for a city of close to 4 million people, legal and otherwise, in a spread-out community of about 450 square miles. Compare this ratio with say, my hometown of Detroit: 900,000 people served by 3500 officers. The City of Los Angeles historically has had one of the lowest ratios of officers to citizens of American large cities. This resulted, I believe, in an aggressive style of policing that emphasized arrests.

Chief Gates and the LAPD have been criticized for its response (lack of response as some would have it) and preparedness to the 1992 riots. The LAPD officers were prepared for the 1992 riots. City officials, including the mayor's office, city council members, and yes, even some of the LAPD managers, backed off sending officers into the riot hot-spots for fear of inciting violence. Truly, that was one of the saddest days of my career. A few thousand of us were ordered to stay at the command post rather than take the streets back. I've often thought of the old military dictum that says to march toward the sound of gunfire.

Daryl F. Gates has often been referred to as a "Cop's Cop." I believe that this refers to his belief that there are evil people who choose to commit evil acts. And that a primary role of the police is to arrest the evil-doers, the crime-doers, and hold them accountable for their actions. And Chief Gates demanded that his officers aggressively, proactively, seek out the criminals. While in the Police Academy, I learned the phrase "Eight for Eight." This meant that as an LAPD officer I was expected to work hard for eight hours for eight hours of pay.

Chief Gates headed up the LAPD during a time of significant innovation. SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), and the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) approach to drugged driving are some of the innovations that occurred under Chief Gates' regime. It was common for the Chief to send me and others notes thanking us for making "the old Chief look good." Chief Gates believed that the best ideas came from the officers and sergeants on the street, and not from high-ranking administrators. He felt that the role of managers and supervisors was to help the officers by providing resources to them. Very forward looking in my opinion. He also was quick to recognize the contributions of his officers. For example, I was fortunate to have authored a number of articles for Police Chief Magazine and other publications under the Chief's name. Chief Gates always made sure that the names of the real writers of his articles were included in the by-line. Not many other chiefs do that.

Chief Gates would often tell us that LAPD officers were the finest officers in the world. He'd frequently tell us how other Chiefs would request a honorary LAPD badge. As Chief Gates would tell it, he'd respond by telling the other Chief that the only way anyone gets an LAPD badge is by earning it.

I am proud to have served under Daryl F. Gates. Yes, I cringed at times when he spouted off to the media. But I never for one second doubted his loyalty to the City of Los Angeles in general, and to the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department.