The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is the law enforcement agency of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County in southern California. In 1869, the LAPD was formed to enforce the law in the major city of Los Angeles, and it grew to almost 14,000 officers and employees in 2014 to fight crime in the crime-ridden city, which had over 300 gangs. After World War II, police chief William H. Parker recruited US Marines and US Army personnel after tours of duty, as well as Southern white males with unfavorable opinions of Black and other non-white people; the legacy of Parker's tenure was felt for decades as the LAPD enforced Los Angeles' racial protocols into the early 1970s and up to the mid-1980s in the San Fernando Valley.The LAPD has historically been associated with racism, police brutality, and corruption, and it is well-equipped with several military-grade weapons such as M4 carbines, pump-action shotguns, and tear gas that have been used against criminals. Despite its record of ongoing Racism it is one of the very few departments that have a large Korean population, and in 2024, the first Korean Commissioner was put in charge by the mayor of Los Angeles.
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