Word: reddin
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Nowhere is more being done in these respects than in Los Angeles, scene of the first cataclysmic riots of the '60s. No police chief is acting more vigorously or imaginatively to prevent new outbreaks than Los Angeles' Thomas Reddin, 52, who understands that the cop today must not only be a well-trained soldier but a "streetcorner sociologist." Says Reddin: "This is the year when the public will suddenly realize that the policeman has more to do with the state of our nation than any other man on the streets today...
...have recognized that in the turbid inner cities more than efficiency is needed, that the cop must indeed be a man of many parts. Among the few: New York's Howard Leary, Washington's Patrick Murphy, Atlanta's Herbert Jenkins, St. Louis' Curtis Brostron. And, of course, Tom Reddin...
...Glass House. Most Americans heard of Reddin only after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, when, for a period of 42 nearly sleepless hours, he directed the investigation of the murder and also expertly fielded newsmen's questions on nationwide TV. Most Californians knew of him long before, almost from the very day in February 1967 that he moved into the chief's office in L.A.'s new eight-story headquarters building, known to the force as the "Glass House...
...late William Parker, Reddin's predecessor, was the epitome of the police professional, a crusty authoritarian who had little truck with sociological theories. Taking over a scandal-tainted force in 1950, Parker made it as honest as any in the nation, boosting standards, competence and morale, and giving the L.A. police a paramilitary esprit. He did not, however, understand the new problems caused by the postwar influx of Mexican-Americans and Negroes. For several years before his death in 1966, the once progressive department stagnated as the ailing chief's ideas congealed into dogma and he labored to surround...
...never have been subdued without the aid of 13,900 National Guardsmen. Like most other cities at the time, L.A. had no contingency plan for a major uprising. "We were so anxious not to cause a riot that we backed off at first and let a riot develop," admits Reddin, who was then a deputy chief. "Using accepted practice on the second day, we isolated the area, reasoning that the rioters would riot themselves out and go home. So what happened? Other riots broke out in other areas." In the end, the insurrection encompassed a region roughly the size...