To Protect and to Serve: The Lapd's Century of War in the City of Dreams [Hardcover]

Joe Domanick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1994

A history of the Los Angeles Police Department from the thirties to the nineties examines its persistent reputation for brutality and corruption and its role in the devastating riot following the verdict in the trial of Rodney King.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The opening scene is a doozy: Tom Bradley, the black mayor of Los Angeles, faces an angry crowd just after the acquittals in the Rodney King beating trial. "Say what you gonna do," a fat woman bellows. "It's your police department. Say what you gonna do!" Little does the crowd realize the power of the LAPD. Joe Domanick goes back to the 1930s to find the roots of that power, and takes readers through the history of what he calls "a quasi-military organization ... outside of the democratic system of checks and balances." Domanick has a brisk, energetic prose style. In his hands these stories of antilabor squads and Red baiting, dragnets and "robocops," generate so much suspense, reading To Protect and to Serve is almost like watching a movie. And, as the Los Angeles Times writes, "While Domanick unearths much dirt about the LAPD leaders, To Protect and to Serve excels at drawing fair, empathic, multidimensional portraits of their lives." This book was the winner of the 1995 Edgar Award for best fact crime. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In a tradition dating back to the 19th century, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department had life tenure and was therefore arguably accountable to no one, not even to the police commission. How that situation, reformed only in 1992 in the wake of Daryl Gates's handling of the Rodney King affair, protected the careers of police chiefs of the likes of William Parker (Watts riot of 1965) and Gates is the thrust of this dramatic study by freelance writer Domanick. He delineates the hold of the white, conservative, largely Protestant establishment on the City of Angels, who allowed the police department to run the city like an army of occupation, brutalizing minorities. The mayor, city council and police commission alike, shows Domanick, ignored or at best minimally curbed abuses by the police force. But with the riots of 1992, LAPD reforms were finally established under Charter Amendment F. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 497 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; 1St Edition edition (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671751115
• ISBN-13: 978-0671751111
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,236,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, April 3, 2000

By 

Ken Jackson (Fresno, Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Protect and to Serve: The Lapd's Century of War in the City of Dreams (Hardcover)

I am a veteran police officer and a native Angeleno whose hobbies include the history of Los Angeles and the L.A.P.D. Joe Domanick's book is an obviously well researched piece that skillfully weaves together a view of historical L.A. and it's police dept. I have read the book three times and enjoy it anew with each revisit. I am deeply aware of the Department's history and can say that the author has hit his mark with this very intriguing and thoroughly researched book. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to familiarize themselves with the true psyche of The Los Angeles Police Department. My hat is off to you Joe Domanick!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Unofficial History of the LAPD, February 2, 2007

By 

Acute Observer (By the Shore NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Protect and to Serve: The LAPD's Century of War in the City of Dreams (Paperback)

Joe Domanick moved from Queens NY to Los Angeles in the mid 1970s. He noticed the unusual power and autonomy of the LAPD. The `Acknowledgments' list the people and sources who helped him with this 1994 book. Is the LAPD "the most powerful, most independent, most arrogant, most feared, and most political big-city police department" (p.7)? The 465 square miles of Los Angeles had the fewest police per resident, and no major police scandals as in other big cities (pp.13-14). The manufacturing economy of South Central and East L.A. collapsed in the late 1970s and created high unemployment (p.15). This book lacks references to the `Source Notes'.

Part Two gives the history of Los Angeles and explains the development of the Police Department. August Vollmer began the professionalization to deal with corruption (p.49). What if this led to a powerful and independent entity? Police Chief James Davis invented the "dragnet" to stop and search for any "suspicious characters" (p.64). Mainstream reformers critical of the LAPD and City Hall were entrapped and arrested, the funds coming from organized crime (pp.54-56)! How could vice, gambling, and bootlegging flourish under a law-and-order police chief (p.56)? Davis also invented the "bum blockade" in 1936 to keep out people from other states (pp.60-62). The "Red Squad" broke strikes and attacked unions (pp.63-64). The shooting of a gambler united the forces of reform (p.75). Did the Intelligence Squad set a bomb in the car of an investigator for the reform movement (p.77)? Bill Parker rewrote Section 202 of the city charter to create new powers for all LAPD officers (p.94). There would be no checks and balances on the LAPD (p.95). There were no corruption scandals as in other big cities. "The Grip" described the "pro-active policing" of Bill Parker (p.111). These policies began to be overturned by the decisions of the Warren Supreme Court (p.113). That should tell you how "pro-active policing" violated the Constitution.

Part 3, Chapter 6 describes the ruling class of Los Angeles, such as the Committee of Twenty-five (p.151). Shows like "Dragnet" helped to promote the city. Hollywood controls almost all TV and movies, they were under the influence of Bill Parker and the LAPD. The LAPD did not tolerate immigrant gangsters (p.156). Bill Parker's Intelligence division allowed him to manipulate politicians (p.157), helped real estate interests (p.159), and to control a mayor (p.171). "Senseless violence" seems to be the result of unrelenting oppression (p.229). Domanick is wrong to claim Proposition 13 was a "revolt of the affluent", it was a correct response to Nixon's devalued dollars and the war on the middle class. Part 6 Chapter 1 tells what happened after the working class L.A. was devastated by corporate policies (p.311). That quote from "48 hours" might be planted propaganda (p.327).

When juries awarded LAPD's victims tens of millions of dollars in settlement awards, the city council authorized more money for a special police litigation unit (p.342). Again, Domanick doesnt' understand that "white people" (p.345) were getting hit with stagnant wages and rising costs. "Mass transit funds" (p.346) didn't help most people, only big corporations. Chapter 3 tells "The Raid on Dalton Avenue" was based on a false affidavit! LA now has the highest rates of violent crimes (p.355). Part 7 deals with the Rodney King encounter. The problem was the public didn't know "how to be arrested" (p.392)! Daryl Gates was suspended for 60 days. Gates knew how to do PR (p.395). The Christopher Commission decided Gates must go to improve the management of the LAPD (p.403). The verdict on the four LAPD officers was followed by an outbreak of fires and looting (Chapter 5). The LAPD did little (p.426). SNAFU (p.428)? The cause was Daryl Gates (p.429). The `Epilogue' sums it up. Proposition F passed, the LAPD would follow the rules, maybe (p.436).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This could have been a "great" book, August 12, 2011

By 

William H. Haugland III (Buena Park, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Protect and to Serve: The LAPD's Century of War in the City of Dreams (Paperback)

This book could have been a "great" history on the problems faced by and of the LAPD.

Too many unsubstantiated comments turned this book into just another "axe to grind" slam against the LAPD. Comments such as (found in Part 5 Circling the Wagons, Chaper 2 The Protege)"And in the years to follow it would be his policies-along with Ronald Reagan's war on the poor..." is one example of his use of unsubstantiated claims found through out his book.

This could have been a great book if he focused on "just the facts" and backed his personal comments & opinion with facts.