Former Los Angeles Police Department Chief, and Orange County resident, Daryl Gates passed away this morning at his Newport Beach home after a short bout with cancer. Daryl Gates was 83.He had been suffering with bladder cancer that had spread to a bone in his hip. Friends alerted me to the fact that hospice had been called in within the past few days.
14-year tenure ended amid widespread criticism over his department's response to the city's deadly 1992 riots, died April 16 of bladder cancer at his home in Dana Point, Calif.
Daryl Gates was credited with developing the policing plan that allowed the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics to proceed without so much as a traffic jam. He also created the department's popular Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., program for youth.
A tart-tongued career cop with a short fuse and a penchant for making controversial statements, Gates was a flashpoint for controversy long before the riots that broke out after four white police officers were acquitted of most charges in the beating of black motorist Rodney King.
I think it is important to remember what this man did for the city of L.A. He was not a perfect man…but, he was a good man who deserves to be remembered for the good he did in *one of* the largest cities in the world.
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