Operation Hammer
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A Los Angeles Police Department CRASH initiative that began in April 1987, Operation Hammer was a large scale attempt to crack down on gang violence in Los Angeles. At the height of this operation in April 1988, 1,453 people were arrested by one thousand police officers in South Central Los Angeles in a single weekend.
Despite the large number of arrests, in April 1988, there were only 60 felony arrests, and charges were only filed in 32 instances.
By 1990 over 50,000 people had been arrested in raids. During this period, the LAPD arrested more young black men and women at any period of time since the Watts Riot of 1965. The operation has been criticized as being flagrantly racist, and heavily employed racial profiling targeting African-American and Hispanic youths. These groups were labelled as "urban terrorists" and "ruthless killers." Some believe that this practice of singling out non-Caucasian citizens was the impetus for the 1992 Los Angeles riots centering around motorist Rodney King.
The Police View
The former Chief of the LAPD, at the time of the operation, Daryl F. Gates portrays a different view on the operation.
Many commentators criticised Gates for Operation Hammer, a pro-active policing operation conducted by the LAPD in the South Central district. After a group of people at a birthday party were shot down on their front lawn in a drive by shooting, the Chief decided to send in 1000 officers to clean up the area and take it back from the gangs. People were scared to eat dinner in the evenings because of the shootings, and were eating on the floor for their own protection. The Chief decided enough was enough. The media tried to suggest that the operation was harasment, despite the fact that charges were filed on 70% of the suspects arrested (source: former Chief Daryl F. Gates) in Operation Hammer. Dispelling the disgraceful myth that the police were an "occupying force", Chief Gates was asked in a PBS interview whether the local people in the minority areas expressed thanks to the police:
"Sure. The good people did all the time. But the community activists? No. Absolutely not. We were out there oppressing whatever the community had to be, whether it was blacks, or Hispanics. We were oppressing them. Nonsense. We're out there trying to save their communities, trying to upgrade the quality of life of people. . . . "
Source: PBS Interview (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/interviews/gates.html)