Comments
OLD CHARTER PROTECTIONS - I am a retired Los Angeles Police Sergeant. I served the LAPD for 23 years, mostly on PM and Morning Watch, including assignments at 77th Division, Southeast Division, West Los Angeles Division, Harbor Division, Transit Rail Division, and RACR. I still care about the City of Los Angeles, not only because I wore the badge, but because I have family who live there today.
Most people do not know that in 1937, the City of Los Angeles amended its charter with two important changes — Amendments 11 and 14-A. These gave civil service protection to the Chiefs of Police and Fire. It meant that city politicians could not remove these leaders on a whim, for political reasons, or because they needed a scapegoat. If a chief committed a crime, they could still be prosecuted. But they could not be fired just because a mayor or a council wanted to shift blame.
Future Chief William Parker supported these protections, because he had already seen what political corruption did to the city in the 1930s. Mayor Frank Shaw, later recalled by voters, used the police department as a political weapon. Parker wanted to professionalize the LAPD, and part of that meant protecting the chief from being a pawn of City Hall.
Unfortunately, after the Rodney King riots in 1992, these protections were stripped away. At the time, the focus was on Chief Daryl Gates and the fact that the mayor could not remove him. But what was lost in the haste of that moment was Parker’s original point: stability at the top is essential for a professional department.
Now, decades later, we are seeing the consequences. The recent firing of the Los Angeles Fire Chief by the mayor is one example. Was she perfect? No chief is. But should one individual bear the blame for devastating wildfires fueled by wind, drought, infrastructure neglect, and budget cuts? That fire was almost unwinnable, even with the best preparation. Instead of saying “we failed together, and here’s how we’ll improve,” the leadership of Los Angeles chose the easy way out — fire the chief and move on.
This is not accountability. This is scapegoating. And when department heads serve at the pleasure of politicians, public safety becomes political theater.
Civil service protections were never about protecting bad chiefs. They were about protecting the public from political interference in its police and fire departments. Without them, we risk repeating the mistakes of the past — mistakes William Parker fought hard to end.
I don’t live in the city anymore, but I still care deeply about its people, its neighborhoods, and its safety. If we want Los Angeles to thrive, we must revisit the wisdom of 1937 and recognize that leadership in public safety should be guided by law and professionalism — not politics.
(Michael Barone is a retired LAPD Sergeant, Serial #33210, with 23 years of service. He writes about public safety, law enforcement history, and civic accountability.)
