Willie L. Williams

Willie L. Williams (born 1 October, 1943) was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) from 1992 to 1997, taking over after chief Daryl Gates' resignation following the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Williams was the first African-American police commissioner of both the Philadelphia Police Department and the LAPD. During his term as chief of the LAPD, he tried to create a positive image of the department and close the rift created between the police and black neighborhoods by the violent arrest of Rodney King in 1991.

He was thought of by the vast majority of LAPD officers as merely a puppet of the Mayor and the appointed Los Angeles Police Commission.Fact|date=August 2008

In 1996, Williams published "Taking Back Our Streets: Fighting Crime in America", co-written with Bruce Henderson. The book discusses Williams's philosophy of community policing and his efforts to revive and retrain a demoralized police force.

In 2002, Williams was appointed federal security director for Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta by then U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.

Williams is an alumnus of Philadelphia's Overbrook High School.

Cultural References

"Wicked" by Ice Cube

"Wicked" by Korn

Chief Williams is also mentioned in the 1998 movie "American History X". While his family and his mother's boyfriend sit down at a dinner table to eat, Edward Norton discusses the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and claims that had Willie Williams been police chief instead of Daryl Gates, Los Angeles African Americans would not have rioted.

Resources

*Pick the Best Chief, Period. Los Angeles Times Jul 29, 2002.