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William H. Parker (LAPD)
Encyclopedia
William Henry Parker III (June 21, 1905 – July 16, 1966) was the police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department
(LAPD) and has been called "... Los Angeles's greatest and most controversial chief of police". He was the longest serving police chief and served on the force 39 years.
The former headquarters for the LAPD, the Parker Center
, was named after him.
but raised in Deadwood, South Dakota
. Like many Midwesterners, the Parker family migrated to Los Angeles
, California
in 1922 for better opportunities, when the city was advertised as the "white
spot of America" during that period. Parker originally wanted to be an attorney, but later decided to join the Los Angeles Police Department
on August 8, 1927. He served as an LAPD officer for 15 years before taking a leave to fight in World War II
. He received a Purple Heart
after being wounded during the Normandy invasion, and an Italian Star. As soon as he returned home he was re-assigned to basic patrol status with the LAPD.
politics, with its heavy involvement by partisan groups in the police department and commingling of political circles with vice and corruption on the streets, led him to conclude that a different organized police force was necessary to keep the peace.
Parker's experience with military public relations in World War II
was used to develop an effective media relations strategy for the Police Department. Through television shows such as Dragnet and a steady stream of good publicity from local newspapers, he was highly admired nationwide. Parker was a guest on the television program What's My Line?
on August 21, 1955.
Under Parker's early term, the Los Angeles Police Department initiated a more professionalized force which institutionalized officers into an environment that was more answerable to administrative oversight than political representatives. Included in this change was a standardized police academy, more proactive policing methods, and less use of violence but more use of force in securing areas, practices very similar to military peacekeeping methods which he was exposed to during the war.
Under Parker, the LAPD faced heavy accusations of police brutality
and racial animosity
towards the city's African American
and Latino
residents, resulting from Parker's recruiting of Southern
officers, most of whom had strong racist attitudes and served in the military. Parker allegedly supported the city's racist power structure, which he denied as late as the 1960s. Longstanding mistreatment towards its local residents eventually led to the Watts Riots
of 1965. Some critics see Parker as the man responsible for ongoing tensions between the LAPD and minorities. Strangely enough, Parker was the first chief in LAPD history to desegregate the police force as the civil rights movement rose.
Another aspect of changes initiated by Parker which changed the police force from one of a walking peace-force to a more militarized mobile response force, was a reduction in the size of the police force, in relation to the population. The term "Thin Blue Line" was coined by Parker. Parker's experience with the larger by per capita force of his early career led him to estimate that fewer but more professionalized officers would mean less corruption. Additionally, the strategy of changing the beat posture to one of mobility led to change from foot patrols to one which favored police cars. Not incidentally, this also furthered Parker's belief that isolating his officers from the streets would reduce opportunities for corruption. However, Parker recognized that certain areas of the city and certain functions of the police department needed to remain rooted in the more traditional form of police work.
Although Parker made reductions in police corruption and cleaned up the overall image of the police, certain sections of the police continued practices which lent more to an image of old semi-corrupt control of vice and petty crime. The vice squad
and reserve force
continued to remain controversial elements of the police force. Parker also used elements of the reserve force such as the Organized Crime and Intelligence Division of the LAPD to keep tabs on suspected politicians and their mafia
syndicate allies as well as the notoriously corrupt and narcotic ridden Hollywood movie industry
system and its celebrities. The novel and film L.A. Confidential
provide a fictional depiction of the LAPD under Parker during these years.
Parker served on the Los Angeles County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission
during the nuclear crisis in the early 1960s.
Perhaps his most famous quote was stated later in his career, about corruption, and police brutality
cases within the department:
creator Gene Roddenberry
, a former LAPD officer, wrote speeches for Parker. It is said that Roddenberry modeled the character Mr. Spock after Parker.
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
(LAPD) and has been called "... Los Angeles's greatest and most controversial chief of police". He was the longest serving police chief and served on the force 39 years.
The former headquarters for the LAPD, the 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...
, was named after him.
Early years
Parker was born in Lead CityLead, South Dakota
Lead is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,124 at the 2010 census. Lead is located in western South Dakota, in the Black Hills near the Wyoming state line.-History:...
but raised in Deadwood, South Dakota
Deadwood, South Dakota
Deadwood is a city in South Dakota, United States, and the county seat of Lawrence County. It is named for the dead trees found in its gulch. The population was 1,270 according to a 2010 census...
. Like many Midwesterners, the Parker family migrated to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, 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...
in 1922 for better opportunities, when the city was advertised as the "white
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
spot of America" during that period. Parker originally wanted to be an attorney, but later decided to join the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
on August 8, 1927. He served as an LAPD officer for 15 years before taking a leave to fight in 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...
. He received a Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
after being wounded during the Normandy invasion, and an Italian Star. As soon as he returned home he was re-assigned to basic patrol status with the LAPD.
Parker as chief
Parker became police chief on August 9, 1950, and is credited with transforming the LAPD into a world-renowned law enforcement agency. The department that he took over in 1950 was notoriously corrupt. Seeing the old ward peacekeepingPeacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
politics, with its heavy involvement by partisan groups in the police department and commingling of political circles with vice and corruption on the streets, led him to conclude that a different organized police force was necessary to keep the peace.
Parker's experience with military public relations in 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...
was used to develop an effective media relations strategy for the Police Department. Through television shows such as Dragnet and a steady stream of good publicity from local newspapers, he was highly admired nationwide. Parker was a guest on the television program What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
on August 21, 1955.
Under Parker's early term, the Los Angeles Police Department initiated a more professionalized force which institutionalized officers into an environment that was more answerable to administrative oversight than political representatives. Included in this change was a standardized police academy, more proactive policing methods, and less use of violence but more use of force in securing areas, practices very similar to military peacekeeping methods which he was exposed to during the war.
Under Parker, the LAPD faced heavy accusations of 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....
and racial animosity
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
towards the city's African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and Latino
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...
residents, resulting from Parker's recruiting of Southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
officers, most of whom had strong racist attitudes and served in the military. Parker allegedly supported the city's racist power structure, which he denied as late as the 1960s. Longstanding mistreatment towards its local residents eventually led to the 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...
of 1965. Some critics see Parker as the man responsible for ongoing tensions between the LAPD and minorities. Strangely enough, Parker was the first chief in LAPD history to desegregate the police force as the civil rights movement rose.
Another aspect of changes initiated by Parker which changed the police force from one of a walking peace-force to a more militarized mobile response force, was a reduction in the size of the police force, in relation to the population. The term "Thin Blue Line" was coined by Parker. Parker's experience with the larger by per capita force of his early career led him to estimate that fewer but more professionalized officers would mean less corruption. Additionally, the strategy of changing the beat posture to one of mobility led to change from foot patrols to one which favored police cars. Not incidentally, this also furthered Parker's belief that isolating his officers from the streets would reduce opportunities for corruption. However, Parker recognized that certain areas of the city and certain functions of the police department needed to remain rooted in the more traditional form of police work.
Although Parker made reductions in police corruption and cleaned up the overall image of the police, certain sections of the police continued practices which lent more to an image of old semi-corrupt control of vice and petty crime. The vice squad
Vice Squad
Vice Squad is a punk band formed in 1978 in Bristol, England. The band formed from two other local punk bands, The Contingent and TV Brakes. Songwriter and vocalist Beki Bondage was a founding member and is currently with the band, although there was a period of time when the band had a different...
and reserve force
LAPD Metropolitan Division
The Metropolitan Division of the Los Angeles Police Department is an elite division within the department that is most notable as the unit that operates LAPD's SWAT teams. Captain John N...
continued to remain controversial elements of the police force. Parker also used elements of the reserve force such as the Organized Crime and Intelligence Division of the LAPD to keep tabs on suspected politicians and their mafia
Los Angeles crime family
The Los Angeles crime family is an Italian American criminal organization based in Los Angeles, as part of the American Mafia . Since its inception in the early 1900s, it has spread throughout Southern California. Like most Mafia families in the United States, the L.A. family gained power...
syndicate allies as well as the notoriously corrupt and narcotic ridden Hollywood movie industry
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
system and its celebrities. The novel and film L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
provide a fictional depiction of the LAPD under Parker during these years.
Parker served on the Los Angeles County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission
Los Angeles County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission
The Los Angeles County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission is a nine member panel originally set up to deal with the threat of nuclear war, in addition to perennial Los Angeles County concerns involving flooding, landslides, fires, and earthquakes.-History:...
during the nuclear crisis in the early 1960s.
Perhaps his most famous quote was stated later in his career, about corruption, and 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....
cases within the department:
- "We'll always have cases like this because we have one big problem in selecting police officers ... we have to recruit from the human race."
Influences
Star TrekStar Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
creator Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...
, a former LAPD officer, wrote speeches for Parker. It is said that Roddenberry modeled the character Mr. Spock after Parker.
See also
- Billy G. Mills (born 1929), Los Angeles City Council member, 1963–74, investigating the Watts Riots