Author Gates Teases About Recollections

After announcing his retirement plans, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates wasted little time Monday in plugging what may be a new line of work: writing.

“The only files are in my head,” Gates said, responding to a reporter’s question about secret police files on politicians. “And I’ve got a lot of those,” he teased, “and you may know, I am writing a book. . . .”

A spokesman for Bantam Books in New York said Tuesday that plans for Gates’ autobiography are moving forward despite the chief’s decision to leave the department in April. Gates signed a $300,000 deal with the publisher for his memoirs last year, long before the beating of Rodney G. King set off a harsh reassessment of his tenure with the Los Angeles Police Department.

“We signed up Chief Gates in the expectation that he would write a terrific book about his life,” said spokesman Stuart Applebaum. “That expectation continues.”

Applebaum described Gates’ first-person narrative as “a work in progress” and would not disclose when Bantam expects to release it. In March, Applebaum told The Times the memoirs would be in bookstores in 1992 at the earliest.

If the book is published next year, Gates’ decision to remain in office until April could help sales, several agents and book publishers said. Books by incumbent officeholders are typically easier to market than those by officials no longer in power, they said.

“They are going to find it a lot harder to get publicity if he doesn’t have his job,” said David Vigliano, a New York agent. “It is always easier when someone is still in office.”

Did Gates consider the effect on book sales when he chose his April retirement date? The chief was unavailable for comment Tuesday, and his spokesman declined to speculate.

“That is his personal business,” said Cmdr. Robert S. Gil.

Even if Gates’ autobiography does not appear on bookshelves until after he leaves Parker Center, the book could enjoy commercial success, according to some publishing industry observers. The book’s release, for example, could be timed to capitalize on a major development in the King case, such as the trial or, if convicted, sentencing of the police officers involved in the beating, they said.

Better yet, some industry observers said, Gates could use the book to reveal all with a no-holds-barred account of his handling of the King incident and a candid assessment of his tempestuous relationship with City Hall.

“If Gates decides to be extremely controversial and say some very explosive things . . . it could help the book,” said Gayle Feldman, book news editor for Publishers Weekly. “If he comes back fighting, people may be interested in what he says.”

At a brief news conference Monday, Gates didn’t say much about his book, but he hinted that it may involve more than innocent reminiscing.

“You can’t be chief of police and not know a great deal about what is going on,” Gates said. “You learn those things. . . . I don’t write them down, I don’t keep a file, I don’t do any of those kinds of things. I have a good memory. And most of my book will be recollections of an old chief.” Applebaum would not discuss the substance of Gates’ book, but he said people should expect good reading.

“The candor and intensity that the chief has brought to his public pronunciamentos about his work should be expected in his book about his life,” Applebaum said. “We are looking forward to reading what he will write. Hopefully, there are hundreds of thousands of others just like us.”

Last month, Bantam hired Diane K. Shah, a murder mystery writer and a former sports columnist for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, as Gates’ collaborator on the book. Shah, who interviewed Gates for the August issue of Playboy, replaced Los Angeles writer Steve Delsohn, whose previous books include the controversial autobiography of former pro football star Jim Brown. Neither Bantam nor Delsohn would comment on the change.

Shah said Tuesday that she has begun writing portions of the book, while continuing to interview Gates about the King beating.

“At the time this whole thing started, there was no Rodney King,” Shah said. “But since Rodney King has made him a national--and international--name, he is definitely giving his side of the whole story.”

Shah said Gates’ decision to retire may make it easier for him to speak candidly.

“If he were not leaving as police chief, he probably couldn’t say some of the things he is going to say,” Shah said. “Now he can say whatever he wants.”

Shah declined to disclose what the outspoken chief will say in his book that he has not already pronounced in public.

“I am trying to get him not to talk, so I think I am not going to talk either,” Shah said.

The Gates Years

Here is a look at Chief Daryl F. Gates ‘ career with the Los Angeles Police Department . Sept. 16, 1949: Twenty-three-year-old Daryl F. Gates, an ex-World War II Navy man and soon-to-be public administration graduate from USC, joins the Los Angeles Police Department.

1950: After a year on traffic duty, rookie Gates is chosen over six other young officers as aide and driver to then-Police Chief William H. Parker, famed for running an efficient department. Parker’s personal style deeply impresses his young protege, whose own style would often be compared to that of the chief.

1952: After 18 months with Chief Parker, Gates returns to field work. He serves about six years as a “blue suit,” or uniformed officer, working the streets. Early assignments include work in the Traffic Investigation, Juvenile, Training and Motor Transport divisions.

1950s to mid-60s: Gates makes one of the fastest climbs through the ranks in the history of the department. He is promoted to sergeant in 1955, to lieutenant in 1959. He achieves the rank of captain in 1963 and begins to hold a series of commands that will include Intelligence Division, Tactical Operations, Personnel and Training and Administration.

1965: Gates becomes a commander.

1968: Gates is promoted to deputy chief, and one year later is promoted to assistant chief.

1971: As assistant chief, Gates develops the nation’s first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

1978:

* After nearly three decades with the LAPD, Gates is appointed police chief to succeed departing Chief Edward M. Davis.

* Shortly after his appointment as chief, Gates tells the Police Commission that he will not stay longer “than three to four years” in that position.

* He makes the first of several disparaging remarks that arouse public ire when he says some Latino officers were not promoted because they were “lazy.”

1979:

* Gates defends his department against accusations that two patrol officers used excessive force when they emptied their revolvers into a knife-wielding 39-year-old widow named Eulia Love. The incident outrages several community groups, which call for Gates’ removal.

* While in England, Gates casually comments at a news conference that if President Jimmy Carter could not rescue the 52 American hostages being held in Iran, he could send in the LAPD’s SWAT team.

1980: Gates offends many when he describes a local television anchorwoman as an “Aryan broad.” Later, the chief comes under attack for the department’s hiring policies regarding women and minorities.

1982:

* Gates says that “some blacks” may be more susceptible than “normal people” to police officers’ use of a controversial chokehold, since banned. The Police Commission reprimands him.

* He angers many Jews when he produces a report that suggests the Soviets were sending criminals disguised as Jewish emigrants to disrupt the 1984 Olympics. He is rebuked by the Police Commission.

1983:

* In conjunction with the Los Angeles Unified School District, Gates launches the highly acclaimed DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, which is being taught across the nation.

* The ACLU accuses Gates of allowing “political spying,” violating the rights of 88 individuals and 23 organizations.

1984: Gates develops the overall plan for policing the highly successful 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games. He says he will consider leaving the force after the Olympics.

1987: Gates suggests he will leave the force after Pope John Paul II’s visit to Los Angeles. A year later, he reverses himself, talking about breaking ex-Chief Parker’s record tenure of almost 16 years.

1988:

* Gates institutes a gang-suppression program that targets gang members for narcotics prosecutions, resulting in a 98% filing rate and a 94% conviction rate, according to the department.

* Gates, in an interview, concedes that he is now more “patient and sensitive” in his dealings with people. But, he adds, “I can still be an arrogant bastard. I’ve grown harder and softer.”

1989:

* In a videotaped message to LAPD officers, Gates uses the term pantywaists to describe officers who oppose his Halloween deployment plan, designed to prevent a recurrence of the near-riot that occurred the previous year.

* Gates takes his campaign to ban assault rifles to Washington to testify before a Senate panel on the issue. Gates, a staunch conservative, urges Congress to take tougher action on banning the weapons.

1990: Gates stirs up controversy with his remarks at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that casual drug users “ought to be taken out and shot.”

1991: Gates angers Latinos when he refers to the killer of a policewoman as a “drunken Salvadoran.”

* March 3: Videotaped police beating of Rodney G. King sets off a string of events that includes renewed calls for Gates’ resignation and pressure from Mayor Tom Bradley; the launching of a series of investigations, culminating in the Christopher Commission report; and political infighting at City Hall over the fate of the chief.

* July 22: After 13 years as chief, Gates announces that he plans to retire in April of 1992, but will stay longer if a successor is not chosen by then.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Police Department

Compiled by Times researcher Michael Meyers