Chief Gates Must Step Aside

Police Chief Daryl Gates has consistently set a tone for his department that is a primary cause of its unfortunate record of violent and abusive behavior. In the early 1980s, he scoffed at the fact that several black men had died in police custody from police choke holds. His explanation? Blacks didn’t have “normal” windpipes, and were more susceptible to such damage. In 1989, Gates replied to a finding that an innocent Latino family had been beaten by police by saying that the family was lucky that their beating had not been worse. Just a few months ago, Gates suggested that all casual drug users be shot. Then he disparaged the entire Salvadoran community because of the criminal behavior of one Salvadoran man.

What happened Sunday morning was unfortunately not an aberration in the attitude and behavior of the Los Angeles Police Department. The consistent violent behavior exhibited by its officers, combined with blatant mistreatment of minorities, indicates a problem with roots deep and wide. A police force is only effective in preventing lawlessness when its own officers are not promoting lawless behavior.

We can’t allow Daryl Gates to draw a circle around the 10 men who were present at the beating and pretend that the problem has been taken care of. The brutality that was exhibited Sunday is part of a much larger problem of leadership gone awry.

After years of controversy, after years of multimillion-dollar hospital and trauma bills being paid out to victims of police misconduct, there is only one answer to the problem facing Los Angeles today. In the interest of the department and the city, the time has come for Chief Gates to step aside.