RIP, Daryl Gates

Former LAPD chief Daryl Gates has died.

Daryl F. Gates, the rookie cop who rose from driver for a legendary chief to become chief himself, leading the Los Angeles Police Department during a turbulent 14-year period that found him struggling to keep pace with a city undergoing dramatic racial and ethnic changes, died Friday. He was 83.

Gates died at his Dana Point home after a short battle with cancer, the LAPD announced.

The controversial chief, whose tenure ran from 1978 to 1992, spent his entire four-decade career at the LAPD, where he won national attention for innovative approaches to crime fighting and prevention: He instituted military-style SWAT teams to handle crises and the gentler DARE classroom program to prevent drug abuse. These initiatives, emulated by police departments across the United States, and other advances, such as a communications system that reduced police response times, bolstered his reputation as an exemplar of modern law enforcement. President George H.W. Bush called him an "all-American hero."

Gates got a really bad rap after the Rodney King fiasco (there was much more to that than the edited clip shown over and over again) and later resigned under pressure. The men I knew who served under him loved the man. A cousin of mine served under him during his entire reign as chief and idolized him.

Naturally, the media hated him and the LA Times editorializes in their typical nasty, condescending manner. Those creeps couldn't shine his shoes.