Many of you will recall the situation back then. If you were fortunate enough to not be in the area, your T.V. news day was taken hostage by the drama that unfolded outside a North Hollywood, California Bank of America building. I won’t recap the entire story, but it has been broadcast, re-broadcast, written about, analyzed, litigated and ultimately made into a T.V. movie. For once the true events did not require any form of dramatization, it was dramatic as it played out. In the end, only two individuals died, the two robbers, though many people were injured and lots of property was damaged.
The impact of this event on the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department was also dramatic. Those of us in LAPD had asked for, continually, the opportunity to upgrade our Department approved weaponry. At that time, many if not most officers carried Revolver style .38 caliber handguns. Most marked police units would have one Shotgun in the vehicle, this is, if the officers in that vehicle opted to check out a shotgun. Those guns were 12 gauge and carried four rounds. Revolvers carried six rounds in the cylinder and officers were smart to at least carry a few of what were called “speedy loaders” of eight rounds on their duty belt. Officers and much of the Department cried out for better weapons and munitions. Auto handguns were desired. Rifles were as well but that was an even more difficult argument. Those opposed to such upgrades included special interest groups like the ACLU and people who were generally against weapons in society, even for police. The loudest argument against the request stated that “if the police got bigger and more lethal guns, it would force the criminals to do the same.” For those of us in law enforcement (LE) knew this argument to both be illogical and backward thinking. Criminals needed no form of police procedures to decide what weapons to use, they did what they wanted. And for all anyone at that time knew, they already out gunned the police departments around the country.
These bank robbers educated the public and those contrary special interest groups that the Department not only needed but should have been required to have the biggest and best weapons available for the circumstances that confronted LE at that time and for time to come. The old former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt’s saying “speak softly and carry a big stick,” comes to mind. The reference to a time to come refers to the growth of home grown terrorism and international terrorism coming to the U.S. shores. This is not to mention the soon to emerge Active Shooter events at schools, malls and office places around the country. LE was behind the curve by a great measure. It was not long after that tragic event that the LAPD Chief of Police and the Police Commission opened the door to better and more current weapon systems for officers, beginning with Semi-Auto handguns of 9MM, later up to 45 calibers. Also introduced, though slowly were rifles in the form of the AR15. This gave officers a better chance at being able to carry out the mission of “Protecting and Serving,” the LAPD moto, and matching up with the kinds of threats they might face on the streets from highly motivated and well equipped criminals.
As the dramatic hours of the North Hollywood shooting played out I was at that time, the Supervisor of a Narcotics Tactical team. We were on an operation near LAX. Our team was at that time equipped with better weapons than those of the street cops. But we only deployed those weapons on approved tactical entry events related to our narcotics enforcement duties. We were also undercover. Meaning, we were generally in plain clothing, driving unmarked, non-police looking vehicles (the bad guys seldom had difficulty spotting us coming from a mile away!). When we finally heard about the drama going on in North Hollywood we wanted very much to respond and support our brothers and sisters at risk, as well as the public that were under attack. What we experienced in attempting to do so was good ole Los Angeles traffic. Our un-marked cars afforded us zero ability to move quickly in traffic in a safe manner. The primary route from LAX to North Hollywood was the 405 Freeway. If you know LA and you know the 405, there is no rush hour…it is always rush hour. Yes, we got on the freeway and sat in traffic. Attempting to get around traffic in plain vehicle looked bad to citizens who were also stuck in traffic. None of whom understood or much less cared about the danger that they may not have even known about happening at that time. After a protracted period of time, sitting in grid lock, we gave up…yes, we gave up. We presented a greater danger to the public fighting traffic and getting into arguments with other drivers, many of whom I suspect, didn’t particularly like LE anyway. Thus, we called off our response. In the gunfight thank God, no public and no officers died. So in hind sight, our not responding worked out ok. But it bothered me to not be there.
I was proud of the great work of the many Detectives, Officers, SWAT personnel, Sheriff’s and FBI, and other LE that did get there. The day was saved. I guess, also in hind sight, LE owes a debt of gratitude to the two heavily armed and criminally committed gunmen, as they demonstrated the argument that we had to that point not been able to win. Ironically and almost insultingly, the families of the deceased gunmen sued the department for their deaths. An effort to won them nothing except further public disdain.
Ultimately, tactics were updated and changed. Many officers re-thought their laissez-faire concern for their own tactical readiness. Many took to the shooting ranges more often and with an eye to refreshing those perishable skills that could save lives and helping to ensure that they themselves went home at the end of each work day. It was my practice at that throughout my career to go to the range each week, or at least three times a month. A practice that though by some standards was extreme, I recommend for persons authorized to carry and use a weapon. When, post 9/11 I went off to the U.S. Government to fight in the War on Terrorism, and working the training cadre for my agency we were required to train on the range every day during our domestic deployments and as often as an overseas deployment allowed (unless in a war zone that was not often, but still…).
Sadly, it is a dangerous world we live in today. There simply is no way of knowing how many legal and illegally owned weapons are out on the streets today. It is impossible to know how many people may be carrying weapons illegally on their person on a given day. Officers responding to domestic incidents have always faced great danger going into the unknown environment of a person’s home, and facing hostilities that have nothing to do with the officers to begin with. With recent events of police shootings and complaints about perceived miss-conduct by police, there have been unfortunate incidents of officers being ambushed and attacked. To be fair some complaints may be justified at some point, but that is a matter for the administrative and legal systems.
In the current political/social environment conflict is a daily event with demonstrations and people so on edge that they seem ready to demonstrate at a moment’s notice. Officers face being challenged, rather than finding cooperation when doing their jobs. Some, perhaps many, citizens fear the police and expect the worse. The citizen/police interactions have become ever more confrontational and adversarial. Such is the job, you might say. From the LE standpoint, the question in their minds might be, should I be proactive and seek out threats and criminal conduct…or should I wait for the sight of blood and a smoking gun before responding.
We don’t want another North Hollywood tragedy to educate the citizens to the officer’s perspective. At the same time, we don’t want accidental discharges or questionable police tactics to decide the mood of the day and the direction of our society. It should be recalled and understood, that police work is an in-exact science. You can take every training opportunity possible and still come up against the unknown and the ill prepared event.
We all want law and order…at least I think so! And all officers want to go home at the end of a work day. Officers, like people…are in fact people. People, like officers, have a life to live and want to do so without conflict.
Again, thank you to all of Law Enforcement for your service today. And thank you to those hero’s, “First Responders, Fire and Medical Personnel, the gun shops that opened their doors to officers who were desperate for upgraded weapons in the heat of battle, who responded and put themselves at risk for the sake of the citizens of Los Angeles.