Finding aid for the Los Angeles Police Department collection 7118

Eighteen issues of the LAPD's Daily Training Bulletin (1951-1952) issued by the Field Training Unit of the LAPD early in the tenure of Chief William H. Parker. These bulletins cover a variety of practical topics for use in day-to-day policing, including How to Arrest on a Warrant, How to Make Juvenile Arrests, How to Search a Car, How to Recognize Narcotics Violations, and How to Hand Repossession Disputes. The bulletins were distributed to officers each day at roll call for several years and were eventually compiled into a single book. Of particular interest here are six issues relating to juveniles, which acknowledge increasing societal concern with the problem of "juvenile delinquency," and encourage offers to adopt preventive strategies, rather than merely reacting to crime.

Parker, W.H. The Police Role in Community Relations. Los Angeles: LAPD, 1955. Text of a speech delivered to the National Conference of Christians and Jews, May 19, 1955. Printed in the form of an extended Daily Training Bulletin (Volume IV, Bulletin 41) for distribution to all members of the Department. LAPD Chief William H. Parker is credited with reducing corruption and professionalizing his department, but his tenure was also marked by racial tension and concerns about police brutality toward African Americans and Latinos. Here, ten years before the Watts Riots, Parker asserts that Los Angeles has less racial strife than other cities, and the police have fewer complaints about prejudicial treatment of non-whites, because the police are highly trained, disciplined, and make an effort to communicate with community leaders. He acknowledges that the police presence is heavier in certain minority neighborhoods, but insists that the police must go where the crime is, regardless of the socio-economic conditions that may have led to the crime problem, and regardless of whether the community takes offense at the increased police activity. "The fact that minorities have received intolerant and discriminatory treatment," he concludes, "does not automatically lend justice to all of their demands. They are as prone to error as majority groups, and the wiser and calmer citizens within those groups recognize it. Thoughtful citizens expect the police to stand their ground when they are right."

Los Angeles Police Department. Chairman Khrushchev's Visit, September 19, 20, 1959. [Los Angeles], 1959. Original operational handbook for internal use by LAPD personnel, detailing the extensive security plan for Nikita Khrushchev's 1959 visit to Los Angeles. Includes several maps and plans, drawings of identification lapel pins, press passes, and vehicle identification cards. Khrushchev's 13-day visit to the United States was the first State visit from a Soviet leader. In a radio address (the transcript of which is included here), Police Chief William H. Parker told his officers "In defining the objective of the mission at hand, we are charged with preventing interference and disorder while providing to the visiting party an optimum of opportunity for the desired freedom of movement and activity." This handbook provides Khrushchev's tentative itinerary, a list of operational responsibilities (e.g., airport security, hotel security, movie studio security, handling the press) and the personnel in command of each. This is followed by details about the specific security duties assigned to the LAPD (as opposed to the Sheriff's Department and various federal agencies), positions in which officers are to stand and cars are to be parked at each stop on the itinerary. Assignments at the Ambassador Hotel included a "Geiger counter man" to "take a reading of all food and personnel" and a fluoroscope operator to examine all gifts, packages, and mail designated for Khrushchev. Additional officers were assigned to conduct security checks of all convoy vehicles, inspect all visited areas for explosives, take photographs of "persons disturbing the peace, arrestees, placards. and other evidence" and more. The manual includes maps of each post, marking entries and exists, paths of foot and vehicle traffic, etc.

Reddin, Thomas. Law Enforcement in a Complex Society. General Telephone Company of California, [1968]. Text of an address given by LAPD Chief Thomas Reddin at a Town Hall meeting in Long Beach in July, 1968. Reddin wrestles with the extreme challenges faced by the police in "an age of discord, discontent, and unrest," when "almost every legal and social and governmental philosophy has recently changed, is in the process of change, or is being attacked by some group" and "defiance of the law receives encouragement from many sources." He argues that the police too often take the brunt of public anger over things they cannot control, such as poverty and unemployment. "Never before has there been such critical scrutiny of law enforcement's action. And never before has there been such resistance to authority as we have now in this land and such activity on the part of those who would destroy effective law enforcement....At no other time in our history has [your law enforcement officer] required your understanding and backing as he does today."