Former LAPD chief shares experience with students

By Grace Kim
Daily Bruin Contributor

Former Los Angeles Police Department Chief Daryl Gates shared
more than four decades of police experience with students
Tuesday.

“I may no longer be in the police department, but I have
opinions,” Gates said.

A guest speaker at a class titled, “Transforming the
LAPD,” Gates fielded questions on subjects ranging from the
failure of his department to react effectively to the 1992 Los
Angeles riots to the recent Rampart scandal.

After serving in the LAPD for 42 years, Gates resigned in 1992
following the L.A. riots. While in office, he faced public
criticism for findings of racism and sexism in the LAPD. He bore
the brunt of public outrage after the 1991 Rodney King beating and
subsequent findings of police brutality, which eventually led to
his resignation.

In response to a question regarding the lack of public
confidence in the LAPD, Gates defended the prestige of the
department.

“We were the finest in the world,” Gates said.
“We had not had a major scandal in 50 years.”

According to Gates, the department’s reputation was
destroyed with the sole incident of the Rodney King beating, where
four white LAPD officers were caught on videotape battering the
African American driver as several other officers looked on.

A year after the beating, the four officers were acquitted.
Following this verdict, the city erupted in violence which led to
the four-day riot in South Central Los Angeles. In 1993, two of the
officers served 30 months in federal prison for violating
King’s civil rights.

Even while speaking about the allegations of police corruption,
Gates remained faithful to the LAPD.

“We have some great people working for the police
department. Sometimes they do make mistakes, but overall these are
people who are dedicated to serving the people of Los
Angeles.”

Gates said the government should stay out of the Rampart scandal
proceedings. “What we need is for (the LAPD) to be left alone
to figure things out.”

The government involvement that Gates referred to is a consent
decree which calls for the appointment of a federal monitor to
oversee the implementation of reforms.

Gates’ visit to UCLA allowed students to gain a first-hand
account of the events following the King beating, and he took the
opportunity to dispel what he called “myths”
surrounding the LAPD.

As the city wrestles with the Rampart scandal, this class of 22
undergraduate and graduate students explores the LAPD’s
difficult road to change.

Taught by Professor Wellford Wilms, who conducted a six-year
study on the LAPD, and LAPD Deputy Chief and Chief of Staff David
Gascon, “Transforming the LAPD” is taught through the
Graduate School of Education and School of Public Policy.

Students have the chance to interact with guest speakers from
the police department, media, and city.

“I go after the myths about the department. We actually
open up the police department to the students … its unfiltered
information,” Chief Gascon said.

Past guest speakers have included Chief of Police Bernard Parks,
Police Commission Inspector Jeffrey Eglash and former mayoral
candidate and State Controller Kathleen Connell.

“We don’t want students to think that Daryl Gates is
the only point of truth. We’re trying to show students all
the aspects,” Wilms said.