William H. Parker (police officer)

William Henry Parker III (June 21, 1905 – July 16, 1966) was the police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and has been called "Los Angeles's greatest and most controversial chief of police". He was the longest serving police chief and served on the force 39 years. The former headquarters for the LAPD, the Parker Center, was named after him.

Early years
Parker was born in Lead, South Dakota, and raised in Deadwood. The Parker family migrated to Los Angeles, California, in 1922, for better opportunities, when the city was advertised as the "white spot of America" during that period. Parker originally wanted to be an attorney, but later decided to join the Los Angeles Police Department on August 8, 1927. He served as an LAPD officer for 15 years before taking a leave to fight in World War II. He received a Purple Heart after being wounded during the Normandy invasion, and an Italy Star. As soon as he returned home he was re-assigned to basic patrol status with the LAPD.

Parker as chief
Parker became police chief on August 9, 1950, and is credited with transforming the LAPD into a world-renowned law enforcement agency. The department that he took over in 1950 was notoriously corrupt. Seeing the old ward peacekeeping politics, with its heavy involvement by partisan groups in the police department and commingling of political circles with vice and corruption on the streets, led him to conclude that a different organized police force was necessary to keep the peace.

Parker's experience with military public relations in World War II was used to develop an effective media relations strategy for the police department. On shows such as Dragnet and a steady stream of good publicity from local newspapers, he was highly admired nationwide. Parker was a guest on the television program What's My Line? on August 21, 1955.

Under Parker's early term, the Los Angeles Police Department initiated a more professionalized force which institutionalized officers into an environment that was more answerable to administrative oversight than political representatives. Included in this change was a standardized police academy, more proactive policing methods, and less use of violence but more use of force in securing areas, practices very similar to military peacekeeping methods to which he was exposed during the war.

Under Parker, the LAPD faced accusations of police brutality and racial animosity towards the city's African American and Latino residents. Parker allegedly supported the city's racist power structure, which he denied as late as the 1960s. Longstanding mistreatment towards its residents eventually led to the Watts Riots of 1965. Some critics see Parker as responsible for ongoing tensions between the LAPD and minorities. However, Parker was the chief who desegregated the police force as the civil rights movement rose.

Another aspect of changes initiated by Parker which changed the police force from one of a walking peace-force to a more militarized mobile response force, was a reduction in the size of the police force, in relation to the population. The term "Thin Blue Line" was coined by Parker. Parker's experience with the larger by per capita force of his early career led him to estimate that fewer but more professional officers would mean less corruption. Additionally, the strategy of changing the beat posture to one of mobility led to change from foot patrols to one which favored police cars. Not incidentally, this also furthered Parker's belief that isolating his officers from the streets would reduce opportunities for corruption. However, Parker recognized that certain areas of the city and certain functions of the police department needed to remain rooted in the more traditional form of police work.

Although Parker made reductions in police corruption and cleaned up the overall image of the police, certain sections of the police continued practices which lent more to an image of old semi-corrupt control of vice and petty crime. The vice squad and reserve force continued to remain controversial elements of the police force. Parker also used elements of the reserve force such as the Organized Crime and Intelligence Division of the LAPD to keep tabs on suspected politicians and their mafia syndicate allies as well as the notoriously corrupt and narcotic ridden Hollywood movie industry system and its celebrities. The novel and film L.A. Confidential provide a fictional depiction of the LAPD under Parker during these years.

Parker served on the Los Angeles County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission during the Cuban missile crisis in the early 1960s.

In popular culture

 * Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, a former LAPD officer, wrote speeches for Parker. It is said that Roddenberry modeled the character Mr. Spock after Parker.
 * Bruce Dern portrayed Parker in the 1996 movie Mulholland Falls.
 * Nick Nolte portrayed Parker in the 2013 movie Gangster Squad.
 * Neal McDonough portrays Parker in the television series Mob City.