Daryl Gates

Daryl Gates
Daryl Gates
Born	Darrel Francis Gates; Template:Birth date; Glendale, California, U.S.
Died	April 16, 2010 (aged 83)
Occupation	Law enforcement officer
Years active	1949–1992
Known for	Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (1978–1992); pioneering SWAT; co-founding D.A.R.E.

Daryl Francis Gates (originally named Darrel Francis Gates; August 30, 1926 – April 16, 2010) was an American law enforcement officer who held the position of chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1978 until 1992, making him the second longest-serving chief after William H. Parker. Gates is recognized for pioneering police SWAT teams and co-establishing the Drug Abuse Resistance Education ("D.A.R.E.") initiative.

In the aftermath of Rodney King’s arrest and the subsequent riots, Gates stepped down amid intense public criticism, with much of the unrest being attributed to his leadership style. One analysis characterized his administration as being plagued by "scandalous racist violence" within the LAPD.

Early life and education

Born in Glendale, California on August 30, 1926, Gates was raised in his mother’s Mormon faith despite having a Catholic father. His upbringing took place in northeast Los Angeles during the hardships of the Great Depression; his father battled alcoholism and frequently encountered law enforcement. Gates later harbored a negative view of police due to their treatment of his father. At age 16, he was briefly detained after intervening on behalf of his brother against police officers, though charges were eventually dismissed.

He completed his studies at Franklin High School and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II within the Pacific Theater. Following military service, he enrolled at Pasadena City College, married Wanda Hawkins, and pursued pre-law coursework at the University of Southern California (USC). A friend’s encouragement led him to join the LAPD during a recruitment effort aimed at veterans. Gates ultimately earned his degree from USC.

Career

Gates began his LAPD career on September 16, 1949. Early assignments included serving as chauffeur to Chief William H. Parker, where he gained valuable exposure to department administration. He consistently achieved top results on promotional exams. After advancing to lieutenant, he served as Parker’s executive officer and later attained the rank of captain with responsibility for intelligence operations.

By the time of the 1965 Watts riots, Gates held the rank of inspector and managed significant cases such as the Manson Family murders and Hillside Strangler investigations. By 1975, during inquiries into Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, he had risen to Assistant Chief. On March 28, 1978, Gates was named the LAPD’s 49th chief.

SWAT

Gates was instrumental in creating the specialized unit known as SWAT (initially called "Special Weapons Attack Team," later revised to "...And Tactics") designed to address hostage situations and other high-risk incidents involving heavily armed suspects. Regular patrol officers were limited by their standard-issue weapons and training when confronting snipers or heavily armed criminals. In 1965, Officer John Nelson proposed establishing a dedicated team trained for critical incidents to reduce police casualties.

As an inspector, Gates authorized this initiative and organized the first LAPD SWAT unit—D-Platoon of the Metro Division—comprising fifteen four-man teams totaling sixty officers. These members received special status and benefits but were required to participate in monthly training sessions and provide security during civil disturbances. The LAPD’s SWAT framework rapidly influenced numerous police departments across the United States and globally.

In his memoir, Chief: My Life in the LAPD (Bantam Books, 1992), Gates emphasized that while he did not personally create SWAT tactics or equipment, he supported and empowered his team to develop these concepts while offering moral encouragement.

PDID

Gates made extensive use of the Los Angeles Police Department's Public Disorder Intelligence Division (PDID), establishing an international espionage network. This activity prompted the lawsuit CAPA v. Gates, initiated by the Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA) and others, citing First Amendment violations. The legal action revealed illegal harassment, surveillance, and infiltration targeting progressive organizations by LAPD operatives. Consequently, the PDID was ordered to be dissolved in January 1983. In February 1984, an out-of-court agreement resulted in a $1.8 million compensation awarded to plaintiffs who had sued the City of Los Angeles.

D.A.R.E.

Together with the Rotary Club of Los Angeles, Gates co-founded D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), a program designed to inform students about the risks associated with drug use. D.A.R.E. expanded its reach globally, implementing school-based curricula in numerous countries. However, despite its widespread adoption, peer-reviewed studies funded by government agencies found no evidence supporting its effectiveness in curbing drug or alcohol consumption, which led to a 73% reduction in public funding.

CRASH

During Gates’s leadership as chief, the escalation of the War on Drugs and increased gang activity predominantly affected economically disadvantaged Black and Hispanic communities. In response, the LAPD created specialized gang task forces named Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) to collect intelligence and execute operations targeting gang members. Reports emerged accusing these units of wrongful arrests and discriminatory practices against young Black and Latino males.

Gates became linked to allegations of excessive force used by anti-gang teams and was criticized by gang-affiliated urban artists such as Ice Cube. Despite these controversies, CRASH's tactics appeared effective and remained in use until the 1999 Rampart scandal, which uncovered widespread misconduct that threatened numerous convictions.

Force enlargement

Assuming the role of LAPD chief just prior to California's passage of Proposition 13 (1978), Gates faced significant political transformations. Historically known as a "lean and mean" department, the LAPD struggled with increasing traffic congestion and a declining officer-to-population ratio—approximately 7,000 officers serving 3 million residents in 1978—resulting in reduced operational mobility. Gates pushed for increased recruitment, particularly for CRASH units, whenever budgetary resources permitted.

He later conceded that many officers hired during the 1980s—under a consent decree mandating minimum hiring quotas for women and minorities—were sometimes less qualified:

...without enforcing those quotas, it's impossible to hire all necessary personnel. So borderline candidates were accepted—"Yes, they are Black or Hispanic or female," but they were brought on with hopes it would work out. We definitely made some mistakes.

Special Order 40

In 1979, Gates played a key role in drafting and implementing Special Order 40, which prohibited police officers from stopping individuals solely to verify immigration status. The policy aimed to foster crime reporting by immigrant communities without fear of intimidation or deportation.

Administrative style and personality

Following the example set by his mentor Parker, Gates was skeptical about community policing initiatives and frequently avoided engaging with community activists during major LAPD anti-gang campaigns. At the time of the Rodney King incident, he was attending a conference focused on community policing. This approach—discouraging deep community engagement by officers—contributed to political difficulties and accusations of arrogance and racism highlighted in the Christopher Commission report.

Operation Hammer

Gates encountered substantial backlash for Operation Hammer, an extensive LAPD crackdown in South Los Angeles initiated after an eight-person drive-by shooting in 1987. At its peak, the operation mobilized up to 1,000 officers simultaneously and persisted over several years, resulting in more than 25,000 arrests.

This forceful strategy resembled earlier measures implemented prior to the 1984 Olympic Games, when Mayor Tom Bradley empowered Gates to detain both known and suspected gang affiliates across the city until the conclusion of the event. Following the Olympics, Bradley and other city leaders reinforced these policies by reinstating anti-syndicalist statutes primarily targeting Black and Latino youth, although the majority of those apprehended were never formally charged.

Operation Hammer drew widespread condemnation for being perceived as a campaign of harassment designed to intimidate young men from minority communities. Gates acknowledged opposition from community advocates during a PBS interview but defended the initiative as a necessary step toward enhancing residents’ quality of life.

A comparable crackdown took place in 1988 after a fatal drive-by shooting occurred in Westwood Village.

Rodney King and the Los Angeles riots

On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was apprehended and brutally beaten by LAPD officers following a car chase; this incident was captured on video by bystander George Holliday. LAPD Chief Gates and his department faced severe criticism; Mayor Tom Bradley demanded Gates’s resignation, which he initially resisted, resulting in a standoff. The Christopher Commission report released in July 1991 highlighted excessive force and inadequate oversight within the LAPD, recommending reforms and Gates’s removal. Gates announced his resignation on July 13, 1991.

The 1992 Los Angeles riots broke out on April 29, 1992, after a Ventura County jury acquitted four LAPD officers involved in King’s assault. Despite knowledge of the impending verdict, the LAPD sent its day shift home early. During the riots, Gates minimized the severity of the unrest and left Parker Center to attend a political fundraiser opposing a city charter amendment that would curtail the police chief’s authority and tenure. This action reinforced perceptions that Gates was out of touch with the crisis. Command lapses throughout the LAPD during the disturbances led to widespread criticism of his leadership. Restoring order required deployment of 10,000 California Army National Guard troops, along with 3,500 federal personnel and 1,000 federal law enforcement officers over a six-day period.

In the aftermath, media coverage severely criticized the LAPD under Gates’s command, characterizing it as a racially biased, militarized institution governed by an arrogant leadership style. His paramilitary approach prompted demands for a transition toward community policing methodologies.

Gates stepped down on June 28, 1992, with Willie L. Williams, named his successor in April 1992, assuming command. The Webster Commission, chaired by former FBI and CIA Director William H. Webster, issued a scathing report in October 1992 condemning both the LAPD’s riot response and Gates’s management.

Ig Nobel

In 1992, Daryl Gates received the satirical Ig Nobel Peace Prize "for his uniquely compelling methods of bringing people together."

Provocative Statements

Gates became widely known for making contentious remarks, such as:

During his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he suggested that occasional drug users "should be taken out and shot," framing drug use as an act of "treason" in an ongoing "war." He later clarified this was intentional exaggeration.
In 1982, Gates asserted that "black individuals might face a higher risk of death from chokeholds due to slower arterial response compared to 'normal people.'" This comment triggered demands for his suspension from the Urban League. Although he apologized, he did not withdraw the statement, later explaining it referenced a predisposition to certain vascular issues.
When addressing an Equal Protection lawsuit against the LAPD concerning insufficient enforcement of domestic violence laws involving officers, Gates claimed that a police officer who shot his spouse with an LAPD-issued weapon was not the department's responsibility. This legal action ultimately contributed to the enactment of the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban (known as the "Lautenberg Amendment") in 1996, which limits firearm possession by those convicted of domestic violence.

Subsequent Endeavors

Upon departing from the LAPD, Gates partnered with Sierra to create the computer game Police Quest: Open Season, an adventure game set in Los Angeles where players take on the role of a Robbery/Homicide detective investigating murder cases. Gates features in the game portraying the Chief of Police at Parker Center. Additionally, he served as the lead consultant for Sierra's SWAT titles, also making appearances within them. In 1993, Gates briefly hosted a talk show on KFI, succeeding Tom Leykis, and remained a frequent guest discussing law enforcement topics.

Entrepreneurial Activities

Gates held the position of President and CEO at Global ePoint, a company focusing on security and homeland defense with expertise in digital surveillance and security technologies. He also contributed as a member of the Advisory Board for PropertyRoom.com, an online marketplace facilitating police auctions.

Memoir

In 1992, Gates released Chief: My Life in the LAPD, an autobiography recounting his professional journey and significant investigations, published prior to the Los Angeles riots.

Later Developments

After Mayor James K. Hahn declined to extend Chief Bernard Parks's term in 2002, 75-year-old Gates announced his intention to reapply for the LAPD chief position. Nevertheless, Hahn appointed former Boston and New York City police commissioner William J. Bratton instead.

Passing

Gates passed away on April 16, 2010, at his residence in Dana Point, California, aged 83, due to complications related to bladder cancer.

Cultural References

Gates portrayed himself in season 7, episode 13 ("Fatal Obsession, Part 2") of Hunter. He also had an uncredited cameo in the 1997 film L.A. Confidential, congratulating Ed Exley's character.

He is mentioned in the 1998 movie American History X in connection with police brutality following Rodney King's incident. The character Sheriff Daggett, played by Gene Hackman in the 1992 film Unforgiven, was inspired by Gates; Hackman described Daggett’s involvement with torture scenes as his personal "Rodney King moment."

Gates appeared on Da Ali G Show during its second season episode titled "Respek" (2004). Actor Josh Pence portrayed him in the 2013 film Gangster Squad, depicting his early role as chauffeur to LAPD Chief Bill Parker, who was played by Nick Nolte.

Following the LA riots, Gates became frequently referenced in rap and metal music, particularly in Ice Cube's track "The Wrong Nigga to Fuck With" and Body Count's provocative song "Cop Killer."

He is also a prominent figure in James Ellroy's novel The Enchanters.

External links

Daryl Gates speech on drugs delivered at the LAPD Medal of Valor ceremony, 1990