Former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates has died following a battle with bladder cancer. Many of today’s headlines reporting the passing of Daryl Gates include reference to Gate’s peripheral, but career-ending involvement in the now-infamous police beating of Rodney King, and the civil disorder that followed the acquittal of the police officers involved. Others credit Gates with the creation of SWAT teams and anti-drug and anti-gang programs.
Between 1984 and 1989, on Gates' watch, citizen complaints about excessive force by the Los Angeles Police Department officers jumped by 33 percent. During that same period, taxpayers were forced to hand over millions of dollars more in property damage cases in which, for example, apartments were ransacked but no evidence was found to justify an arrest.
The Rodney King beating appeared to have brought decades of accusations of police brutality into focus, and this time, even before YouTube, the whole world was watching. If nothing else, this incident vindicated the thousands of individuals from whom complaints of police mistreatment have emerged, going back to the days of the infamous "Sleepy Lagoon" trials. To many Angelenos, particularly minorities, the Rodney King beating was just more of the same.
The scandal reverberated far beyond Los Angeles, stirring a nationwide debate over excessive police violence and finally prompting Washington to take action. U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh announced that the Justice Department would review all complaints of police brutality received by the Federal Government over the past six years -- some 15,000 cases. Though it was unclear what steps Washington might take, Assistant Attorney General John Dunne said the immediate goal was "to determine whether there is a pattern of abuse to a high degree in any particular region or police department."
Critics of Los Angeles' Chief Gates charged that such a pattern did exist on his 8,300-member force. The day Thornburgh announced his investigation, 1,000 angry Angelenos at a police-commission hearing denounced Gates as the embodiment of a brutal, racist police department and demanded that he step down. Some in the crowd chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Daryl Gates has got to go!"
To this day, supporters and critics alike, continue to debate whether Chief Gates bore any responsiblity for the actions of his subordinates, prior to, and during, the Rodney King beating, and its tragic aftermath.