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37-517: Built from 1925 to 1926 at a cost of $ 100,000, the station opened in April 1926 in a ceremony attended by Chief Edgar Davis and Police Commissioners Birnbaum, Insley and Webster. A number of big cases were handled out of the Highland Park station; it was there that Det. Robert Grogan pursued the " Hillside Stranglers ", Angelo Buono, Jr. and Kenneth Bianchi . In the early 1980s, the building

74-645: A corrupt ally of Mayor Shaw, was beaten by police in his own home in the presence of Fitts and the grand jury foreman. Clinton was harassed by city officials, who boosted his taxes and denied him a license to open up a new cafeterias, while the Los Angeles Times attacked him and his restaurant chain. Then his home was bombed, most likely by members of the LAPD Intelligence Squad , and the backlash enveloped Mayor Shaw and Chief Davis. The Intelligence Squad wiretapped Clinton's home, as well as

111-799: A coup. California National Guardsman Dietrich Gefken, a German immigrant who was a veteran of the Beer Hall Putsch and a member of a secret paramilitary of the Friends of New Germany , plotted a Nazi uprising in southern California cities. Gefken, who'd bragged about killing communists during the Ruhr uprising , planned to raid armories in the region. Based on collected intelligence by Lewis, U.S. Navy agents arrested two Marines who were selling rifles and 12,000 rounds of ammunition to local Nazis. However, when Lewis initially approached local authorities, Davis rejected his concerns, only assuring him that if

148-589: A desultory investigation that led the director of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce to send a letter to U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson , which called Fitts a psychopath. The public outcry led to Mayor Shaw being recalled by voters in 1938 and the election of Judge Bowron as mayor. Davis was called as a witness at the trial of Captain Kynette. It was revealed that the LAPD had been operating a vast intelligence operation targeting not only reformers but politicians, judges, and even

185-539: A federal agent investigating corruption in San Francisco. Chief Davis did poorly on the stand—the judge called his testimony "a debris of words —and he was forced from office by Mayor Bowron, who went on to sack many of the senior officers of the LAPD. Davis died on June 20, 1949, in a Helena, Montana , hospital from the effects of a stroke suffered while visiting a nearby ranch. Roy E. Steckel Roy Edmund Steckel (October 17, 1887 – November 14, 1950)

222-570: A fixed wing squadron, was implemented in 1931. During the first years of the Great Depression , there was a movement in Los Angeles and California to deny Mexican immigrants welfare benefits in a general drive to repatriate them to Mexico, ostensibly to alleviate unemployment . This led to California's Mexican Repatriation Program. In 1931, Chief Steckel claimed, "Most of our crime problems are caused by aliens without respect for

259-533: A mandate from his partners in the National Crime Syndicate to put Southern California vice rackets under top-down control. To serve as Siegel's enforcer, Mickey Cohen was moved into Los Angeles from Chicago. Siegel quietly and quickly seized control of vice operations in the region, which put him at odds with local racketeers , especially Jack Dragna and Guy McAfee . As a result of the reform election of 1938, McAfee and others who had operated

296-841: A new location. With the vacant station threatened by demolition, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission declared the building a Historic Cultural Monument (HCM #274) in January 1984; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places two months later in March 1984. It is the only precinct police station in California listed on the National Register. (The City of San Diego Police Headquarters, Jails and Courts building

333-473: A reform-minded businessman who ran a chain of cafeteria-style restaurants, got himself appointed to the Los Angeles County grand jury. Clinton proved to be a gadfly who demanded an investigation of vice in Los Angeles, and was turned down by the grand jury foreman. Angered, he went to Mayor Shaw, who endorsed an independent committee, CIVIC (Citizens Independent Vice Investigating Committee) over

370-523: A reproduction of the first police woman's uniform in the nation worn by LAPD officer Alice Stebbins Wells in 1910. Records preserved by the Los Angeles Police Historical Society at the museum include LAPD annual reports, LAPD yearbooks, and The Beat magazines. The museum is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. James E. Davis (police) James Edgar Davis (February 8, 1889 – June 20, 1949)

407-452: A reputation as a reformer. Under Chief Steckel, departmental regulations forbidding the solicitation of rewards or the acceptance of gratuities by policemen had lapsed; Davis reimplemented the restrictions. He also fired 245 police officers for misconduct in the first four years of his second term. However, in reality, Two-Gun Davis was to serve one of the most corrupt mayors in Los Angeles history, Frank L. Shaw , who had been elected despite

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444-492: Is also registered.) As late as 1985, the city considered several proposals to convert the building to commercial office and retail space, a live theater and restaurant. Because it is Los Angeles' last surviving station built in the 1920s, the building has been sought-after as a filming location. The city's motion picture coordination office scheduled reservations by film and TV crews several months in advance. The building has also been used in television as an establishing shot for

481-451: The Los Angeles Times , which was in league with D.A. Fitts, said the bombing was a publicity stunt staged by Clinton and Raymond, but witnesses testified that the police had had Clinton's house under surveillance. Seven members of the intelligence squad refused to testify before the grand jury, pleading their right not to incriminate themselves . Captain Kynette later was convicted of the bombing. District Attorney Fitts and Chief Davis began

518-623: The Mathnet (1987–88) and Pawnee (2011) police stations, and others. The building now houses the Los Angeles Police Museum, including photographs, uniforms, badges, squad cars, a paddy wagon, and bullet-riddled vehicles. The museum chronicles the formation of the LAPD from its beginnings in 1869 to the present day. The original jail cells of the Highland Park Police Station can be viewed along with

555-522: The "Combination" moved their operations to Las Vegas, clearing the field for Siegel and his East Coast partners. After Siegel's assassination in June 1947, Cohen was anointed head of the national syndicate's operations in the Southwest – a move that sparked a gang war in Los Angeles. Corruption continued to flourish in Los Angeles. Davis' successor, Chief Clemence B. Horrall , retired on June 28, 1949, amid

592-527: The Chandlers, Shaw appointed Davis chief. Chandler was fiercely anti-labor, and Davis, as chief, could provide police muscle to discourage unionization. Davis formed a " Red Squad " in order to "investigate and control radical activities, strikes, and riots." According to the Official LAPD website, one Police Commissioner ( Mark A. Pierce ) declared his support for Davis' Red Squad, saying, "The more

629-539: The City's charter that were designed to protect the chief and police personnel from political interference. Charter Amendment 14-A, which was passed by the electorate in April 1937, changed City Charter Section 1999 so that the Chief of Police could not be removed without a hearing before the L.A. Board of Civil Service Commissioners. During Davis' second term as chief, New York mobster Bugsy Siegel arrived in Los Angeles with

666-529: The Elysian Field site, when the new Recruit Training Center was opened in Westchester. The Elysian Park facilities, the legacy of Chief Davis, are to be used for in-service training. The rules and regulations for the new Police Academy were drafted by L.A.P.D Lieutenant William H. Parker , who would go on to become Chief of Police in 1950. Parker also drafted civil service reforms enacted into

703-511: The Highland Park station after punching a police officer; in 1963, Gates returned as a police captain in command of the station. He later wrote, "Never dreaming I would voluntarily return to the station where I'd been brought in for punching a cop, I showed up for work, eager to continue trying out my talents as a boss." The station was closed in 1983 as the Los Angeles Police Department moved its Northeast Division to

740-553: The LAPD Vice Scandals, which erupted after LAPD whistleblower Sgt. Charles Stoker alleged that Hollywood madam Brenda Allen had paid into a protection racket operated by senior LAPD Vice officers who reported directly to the Chief. During his first stint as Police Chief, Davis was involved in the scandal surrounding the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders . For several months in 1936, during

777-479: The LAPD were revealed to have undertaken a campaign of brutal harassment, including the bombings of political reformers who had incurred the wrath of the department and the civic administration. Under Chief Davis, civil service reforms were implemented in the City Charter via the ballot initiative process, which insulated the police department from political influence. James E. Davis made a name for himself as

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814-687: The Nazis in Los Angeles ever became a threat to "life and property", the police would "have to handle it." Lewis later recounted what happened: "And before I could proceed, two minutes into it, he stops me and he says, 'You don't get it. Hitler's only trying to save Germany from the Jewish problem. And that the real threat in LA is not from the Nazis and fascists, but it's from all those Communists in Boyle Heights.'" In 1937, restaurateur Clifford Clinton ,

851-439: The head of the vice squad during Prohibition . When Chief Davis created a "gun squad" staffed with 50 policemen, he publicly announced "the gun-toting element and the rum smugglers are going to learn that murder and gun-toting are most inimical to their best interest." Davis declared that the LAPD would "hold court on gunmen in the Los Angeles streets; I want them brought in dead, not alive and will reprimand any officer who shows

888-581: The height of the devastation from the " Dust Bowl ", Chief Davis sent LAPD to the California-Arizona border in an attempt to stop the flow of migrants. These migrants were commonly referred to as " Okies ", named for the early migrants who fled Oklahoma after the state was ravaged by the Dust Bowl. In the 1930s, Davis supported Adolf Hitler 's policies against Jews. In 1933, Leon L. Lewis approached him with evidence of American Nazis plotting

925-543: The home of Judge Bowron and other members of the reform movement. A second bombing brought down Mayor Shaw. Investigator Harry Raymond, a former policeman who worked as a private investigator and was digging up dirt on the Shaw administration, survived a car bombing on January 14, 1938. The bomb was planted by LAPD Captain Earl Kynette , who headed a secret intelligence unit that had Raymond under surveillance. The LAPD and

962-742: The intelligence operation after three years. The incident led Time Magazine to term the L.A.P.D. "super-snoopers". During Steckel's term as Police Chief, radio dispatching was first implemented. Called "the most modern municipal police radio system in the world", the radio network transmitted from a transmitter located in Elysian Park and utilized eight switchboards at City Hall. Forty-four patrol cars were equipped with radio communications, though two-way broadcasting did not come until 1938. The radio network reduced police response times to less than three minutes. Under Steckel, L.A.P.D.'s first "air patrol", consisting of ten police officers assigned to

999-565: The least mercy to a criminal." For his efforts, he won the moniker "Two-Gun Davis." The primary "targets" of Davis' department were purveyors of vice, radicals, and vagrants. Davis was a proponent of the use of radio in police work. In 1929, he ordered his staff to investigate the use of radio for dispatching officers. It was his successor, Roy E. Steckel , who put radio in L.A.P.D. vehicles. After being succeeded by and succeeding Police Chief Roy E. Steckel, Davis served as chief from 1933 to 1939. In his second-go-round as chief, Davis developed

1036-412: The objections of Chief Davis. A corrupt politician who eventually was recalled from office in 1938, Mayor Shaw soon regretted his decision. CIVIC and its citizen volunteers discovered that vice was rampant in Los Angeles. The profits from 600 brothels, 1,800 bookmaking operations, 23,000 slot machines and prostitution were being used to finance political elections, and the LAPD was working hand-in-hand with

1073-540: The opposition of the Chandler Family , conservatives who owned the powerful Los Angeles Times newspaper. (The 1910 L.A. Times building bombing had been carried out by a union member, upset with the anti-union stance of publisher Harrison Gray Otis , whose son-in-law Harry Chandler would take over as publisher of the Times in 1917. The bombing killed 21 newspaper employees and injured 100.) To curry favor with

1110-399: The police beat them up and wreck their headquarters, the better. Communists have no Constitutional rights and I won't listen to anyone who defends them." Mayor Shaw appointed his campaign manager, James "Sunny Jimmy" Bolger, to serve as Davis' secretary, in order to keep a tight rein on the Chief. Under Chief Davis, the LAPD would become mired in corruption, becoming active agents in

1147-580: The promotion of vice. Starting in 1933, Davis began transforming the pistol range and related facilities of the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club (LAPRAAC) in Elysian Park into a true training facility for recruits. Police recruits had begun training in an armory located in Elysian Park in 1924. The LAPRAAC had been founded as a private club in 1925 by LAPD officers to practice their marksmanship. In 1932, their range

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1184-402: The underworld. The grand jury rejected CIVIC's report, and after seeking the advice of Superior Court Judge Fletcher Bowron (who had overseen a grand jury that nearly brought down L.A. District Attorney Buron Fitts for corruption), CIVIC issued a minority report that was only published after Judge Bowron's intervention. A notary public, who testified before the grand jury that the foreman was

1221-405: Was an American police officer who served as the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) from 1926 to 1929, and from 1933 to 1939. During his first term as LAPD chief, Davis emphasized firearms training. Under Davis, the LAPD developed its lasting reputation as an organization that relied on brute force to enforce public order. It also became publicly entangled in corruption . Members of

1258-475: Was cited for failure to meet seismic safety standards and was described as a "Shake and Bake Hellhole". The radical Symbionese Liberation Army (the group that kidnapped Patty Hearst and engaged in an infamous shootout with the LAPD in 1974) planted a bomb in the Highland Park Station in 1973, but it proved to be a dud. In 1942, future LAPD Chief Daryl Gates was arrested and briefly held at

1295-474: Was dismissed as chief by the incoming mayor Frank L. Shaw , who had run on a platform that included calling for Steckel's dismissal. Under Steckel's regime, Mayor John Clinton Porter appointed a former detective with the L.A.P.D. to head up an intelligence operation aimed at both the police department itself and city officials. L.A.P.D. intelligence operatives were bolstered with private investigators, who were given captain's badges. The L.A. City Council disbanded

1332-650: Was the Los Angeles Police Department Chief of Police from December 30, 1929, to August 9, 1933. He succeeded and was succeeded as chief by James E. "Two-Guns" Davis . During Steckel's reign as Chief of Police, Los Angeles hosted the 1932 Summer Olympic Games . The L.A.P.D. employed 800 duly sworn police officers. According to the L.A.P.D.'s official site, crime was very low during the Olympics, with there being only "two robberies, eight burglaries, 39 thefts, and 10 auto thefts". Steckel

1369-628: Was used during the 1932 Summer Olympics for shooting events. In recognition, the Olympic Committee donated the dormitory used as the Olympic Village , and the dormitory building was dismantled and reassembled at the site of the range in Elysian Fields. The building would eventually house the restaurant for the new training facility that would become the LAPD's Police Academy. From 1935 to 1995, all recruits were trained at

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