Daryl F. Gates, an LAPD lifer who generated much praise — and criticism — during his 14 years at the helm of the department, died Friday from complications of bladder cancer at age 83.

Gates, who served more than four decades with the Los Angeles Police Department, died at his home in Dana Point with loved ones at his bedside.

“He wanted to die at home in front of his window where he had a view of the ocean, and that’s where we set it up and that’s the way it happened,” Gates’ brother, Steven, told reporters outside the home.

Gates had been battling prostate cancer that spread to his bladder, and he spent much of the last few months in and out of a hospital.

“It was a courageous fight on his part and it was a courageous fight by all the family members that stood by him,” Steven Gates said. “Also for those that knew him, knew him to be a very decent and kind man, a caring man.”

Gates was considered an innovator in urban policing and a founding father of SWAT teams to handle hostage and other high-risk situations. The concept later was adopted by police departments worldwide. He also pioneered the teen-outreach DARE program to steer at-risk youth away from drugs and crimes.

“He clearly established a number of legacy programs that have been replicated all over the world, from the DARE program to the evolution of SWAT, the intelligence function, the terrorist task force that’s part of the ’84 Olympics,” said City Councilman and former LAPD Chief Bernard Parks. “These are the kinds of things that he will be remembered for, and they will go well beyond his time here on Earth. That’s his stamp on law enforcement.”

But Gates also made headlines for remarks that some viewed as inappropriate or racist. In defending the use of the chokehold to subdue combative suspects — a restraint that was at one point used on a Black suspect who later died — Gates said the physiology of Black people was different than that of “normal” people.

On another occasion, Gates suggested that casual drug users should be shot.

Gates spent his entire professional life in the Los Angeles Police Department, and his career intersected some of the most headline-grabbing events in city history.

In a promotional video Gates did for the LAPD after he retired — an audio portion of which was aired on KNX radio Friday morning — Gates said, “If it happened in L.A., you can pretty much guarantee I was there.”

He referenced the Marilyn Monroe death investigation in 1962, the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968 and the riots of 1965 and 1992.

“Daryl Gates was a one-in-a-million human being,” Chief Charlie Beck said. “He inspired others to succeed and, in doing so, changed the landscape of law enforcement around the world.”

Los Angeles has suffered a great loss, said Paul Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

Los Angeles’ former top cop “was a man of courage and character who had a deep commitment to the rule of law, with a deep pride in the LAPD,” Weber said.

Though popular among officers, his brash style often rankled city leaders, and with the rioting that erupted in 1992 when four White police officers were acquitted of charges related to the beating of Black motorist Rodney King, Gates was cast as out-of-touch with the realities of the city’s urban core.

Though he was criticized for his response to the rioting, Gates personally jerked out of bed and arrested the man who was eventually convicted of smashing trucker Reginald Denny in the head with a cinder block at the genesis of the rioting.

Thirty-four people died in the rioting, and hundreds of buildings were torched.
County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who was on the City Council when the Rodney King beating occurred, said he was “deeply saddened” by Gates’ death.

“We both held strong views about law enforcement and its practices and passionately defended those positions, and our often tempestuous relationship is well-documented,” Yaroslavsky said. “But one of the things I always respected most about the chief was that he never let our disagreements — over the issues of civil liberties, police intelligence practices or excessive use of force — get in the way of the things about which we agreed, such as growing the police department and addressing the LAPD’s other pressing budgetary needs.”

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Gates led the department “during a period of great change in our city.”

“He will be remembered for creating the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program that became the national model for teaching children about the dangers of drug use and for his efforts to re-evaluate the policies and practices of the LAPD that helped pave the way for a reformed department committed to working with the communities it serves,” Villaraigosa said.

Gates was born Aug. 30, 1926. He grew up in Glendale and Highland Park in Los Angeles, according to his department biography. After graduating from high school, he joined the U.S. Navy for a two-year tour and he later earned degrees from USC.

Gates joined the police department Sept. 16, 1949. He eventually landed a plum job as driver for then-Chief William Parker — a relationship that helped him move up through the ranks and eventually land the department’s top job in 1978.

Gates eventually retired under pressure on June 28, 1992, after months of political pressure that increased after the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots.

Steven Gates acknowledged that is brother often made headlines for some of his off-the-cuff remarks, but he said his brother was “very, very sensitive.”

“If you can think back when he became chief of police, he admonished all his police officers to be kind,” Steven Gates said.

Parks also said he never believed that Gates was “insensitive to racial groups.”
“I never found that to be true,” Parks said. “They felt as though he wanted to be unsupervised, which was not true. He fully was committed to the [police] commission system. Where Daryl Gates clearly drew the line was when he felt that someone was encroaching on his responsibility and his authority. He clearly knew the [city] charter, he understood the [city] charter and he felt as though for the best interest of L.A., that the chief of police should not become a political football, a political puppet.”

Gates’ body was taken from the Dana Point home this morning and taken to Holy Cross Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are still pending.