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The Los Angeles Police Department said of Chief of Police Ed Davis, “From
the day Chief Davis took office until his retirement in January 1978, Ed Davis never left any doubt as to where he stood on
any of several issues involving local law enforcement. Vigorous in leadership, outspoken and thoroughly competent, he relished
referring to himself as "just a country boy doing my best to protect the City." The shrewd country boy was later
to make his presence felt as a state senator. His many innovative programs included the Basic Car Plan under which uniformed
officers were assigned to specific territories on a semi-permanent basis. Each officer had precise instruction to regard any
criminal activity as a personal affront and to defend a "piece of turf" as though it was his own.
Davis expanded activities of Air Support Division, augmented computerization to
include the Automatic Want and Warrant System, and greatly broadened the scope of advanced training in management and administration.
Included among his many other contributions was the emphasis he placed on Neighborhood
Watch, community relations, and the implementation of the Jacobs Plan to provide Department personnel with increased advancement
opportunities. The K-9 Corps was started during the Davis tenure, as were two important training projects: the Multimedia
Instruction for Law Enforcement (MILE) and Development and Evaluation of Firearms Training (DEFT) programs. He created the
Department’s Asian Task Force in 1975 to provide assistance to the City’s burgeoning Asian population and decentralized
the Office of Operations.
Davis started the School Buy Program in 1974. Undercover officers posing as students
attended selected high schools to interdict the sale and possession of narcotics. The program remains highly effective and
has the full approval of the Board of Education.
Under his tenure, the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation,
a support organization for the families of police officers killed in the line of duty, was implemented. Since 1972, the Foundation
has provided emergency financial assistance to officers and their dependents in time of death, serious injury, illness, or
other catastrophic circumstance. It also assures the advanced education of children of officers killed in the line of duty.
Benefits were expanded over the years to include reserve
officers, retired sworn personnel, and career civilian employees. The Foundation is funded entirely by private contributions
and its only fundraiser, the Annual Police-Celebrity Golf Tournament. The Tournament has become the Department’s most
successful community relations program, attracting thousands of spectators and scores of top personalities from the entertainment
world. As of March 1998, the Foundation has distributed more than $6 million in grants.
Chief Davis inaugurated the Management
Principles to which the Department continues to respond. These twenty principles stress the importance of public participation
in crime prevention, of friendly enforcement and the police-community partnership. He was also tireless in the pursuit of
narcotic traffickers and street gangs and took steps to handle the increasing number of undocumented aliens. Chief Davis retired
on January 1, 1978. Assistant Chief Robert F. Rock replaced him until the appointment of Daryl F. Gates on March 28 of the
same year.”
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