Daryl Gates remembered by hundreds who pay tribute

A closed casket viewing at police headquarters drew hundreds of current and former cops.

Hundreds of people paid their respects to former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates at LAPD headquarters Monday.

Gates died April 16 of cancer. He served as chief from 1978 until 1992. A white hearse delivered his wooden casket to the LAPD auditorium, where two white-gloved officers stood on each side as mourners walked by. Large screens above showed pictures of him as a police officer and chief.

“To me, Gates epitomized the LAPD because he started SWAT and all these units that were the forefront of police work,” Detective Efrain Baeza said. “That’s one of the things that attracted me to LAPD.”

Baeza, who joined force in 1981, recalled responding to a scene where Gates had pulled over a drunk driver. He liked the idea of his chief setting an example.

“He was always a cop’s kinda chief,” Captain Kevin McCarthy said. The 30-year-veteran said Gates “always shot from the hip” and “that didn’t always fare for us.”

But McCarthy said he respected Gates for sticking up for the department amid often scathing criticism from civil rights activists who said he tolerated excessive use of force.

Associated Press reporter Jeff Wilson stopped by to pay his respects to “my favorite go-to guy for the great quote.”

Wilson recalled how Gates would call the head of the American Civil Liberties Union Ramona Ripston, Ramona “Ripoff” and other critics “Westside, poolside communists.”

“It was a dandy time” for a reporter, Wilson said. “I got a big kick out of him.”

Gates’ family informally greeted well-wishers.

Kathy Perricone fondly remembered her father’s love of her homemade chocolate chip cookies. “He would call me up when he had one cookie left,” she said.

Perricone said she’s paid little attention to the criticism of Gates’ tenure, which was marked by the Rodney King beating and riots.

“You can think what you want about him, but he’s my dad and that’s all he ever was to me,” she said.

“We’re talking about time and era,” LAPD Sergeant Mike Cryer said. Cryer, who is black, said Chief Gates came on at a time “when the city as a whole was indifferent.” “While his personality may have been slow to change, it in fact did change.”

Chief Charlie Beck, whose father served as an assistant chief to Gates, said it’s the end of an era at the LAPD and the city as a whole.

Gates had “an incredible love for this city and this department,” Beck said.