Finding aid for the Los Angeles Police Department collection 7118
Bo Doub
USC Libraries Special Collections
2021 June
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Los Angeles Police Department collection
Creator:
Los Angeles (Calif.). Police Department
Identifier/Call Number: 7118
Physical Description:
0.21 Linear Feet
1 box
Date (inclusive): 1951-1968
Abstract: A collection of materials created by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for internal communications and external community
relations relating to law enforcement. The collection contains eighteen issues of the LAPD's
Daily Training Bulletin (1951-1952); the text of a 1955 speech by W. H. Parker titled "The Police Role in Community Relations" (printed in the form
of an extended
Daily Training Bulletin; an operational handbook for internal use by LAPD personnel detailing the extensive security plan for Nikita Khrushchev's
1959 visit to Los Angeles; and the text of an address given by LAPD Chief Thomas Reddin in 1968 titled "Law Enforcement in
a Complex Society."
Language of Material:
English
.
Scope and Contents
A collection of materials created by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for internal communications and external community
relations relating to law enforcement. The collection contains eighteen issues of the LAPD's
Daily Training Bulletin (1951-1952); the text of a 1955 speech by W. H. Parker titled "The Police Role in Community Relations" (printed in the form
of an extended
Daily Training Bulletin; an operational handbook for internal use by LAPD personnel detailing the extensive security plan for Nikita Khrushchev's
1959 visit to Los Angeles; and the text of an address given by LAPD Chief Thomas Reddin in 1968 titled "Law Enforcement in
a Complex Society."
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder no. or item name], Los Angeles Police Department collection, Collection no. 7118, Regional History Collection,
Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Walkabout Books, March 8, 2021.
Processing Information
Many of the descriptive notes in this finding aid were adapted from descriptions by the immediate source of the material,
Walkabout Books.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Police -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Police administration -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Police training -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Police-community relations -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Speeches, addresses, etc., American -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Bulletins
Handbooks
Speeches (documents)
Los Angeles (Calif.). Police Department -- Archives
Parker, William H. (William Henry), 1902-1966 -- Archives
Box 1, Folder 2
LAPD
Daily Training Bulletin
1951-1952
Scope and Contents
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.
Box 1, Folder 2
The Police Role in Community Relations
1955
Scope and Contents
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."
Box 1, Folder 3
Chairman Khrushchev's Visit [operational handbook]
1959
Scope and Contents
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.
Box 1, Folder 1
Law Enforcement in a Complex Society
1968
Scope and Contents
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."