Im doing a little research into my next book when I came across this on Wikipedia. Sounds a little like the stop and frisk policies in NYC. In 1950, William H. Parker was appointed and sworn in as Los Angeles Chief of Police. Parker pushed for more independence from political pressures that would enable him to create a more professionalized police force after a major scandal in 1951. The public supported him and voted for charter changes that isolated the police department from the rest of government. In the 1960s, the LAPD was promoted as one of the best police forces in the world. Despite its reform and having a professionalized military-like police force, William Parkers LAPD faced heavy criticism from the citys Latino and black residents for police brutality. Police beat black and Latino residents, assaulted women, and governed by fear and intimidation in a similar manner to the South. Chief Parker, who coined the term Thin Blue Line, made it a policy for officers to make sure they engaged as many young black teens and pre-teens as possible. His philosophy was to establish a presence and dominance while they were still young and let them know who was boss. These racial injustices caused Watts’ African American population to explode on August 11, 1965 in what would become the Watts Rebellion.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 17:34:54 +0000
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