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William Henry Parker III is a former American police officer who served as the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1950 to 1966. He is the namesake for the former headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department, Parker Center, and is the longest serving police chief for the LAPD. Although he has been renown for his accomplishments as chief, he has additionally been infamous for being xenophobic towards people of color, having been called "Los Angeles' greatest and most controversial chief of police"
Villainy
- He was known to largely discriminate minorities, particularly Blacks, as he was openly against hiring black law enforcement.
- He typically denied racial segregation in the United States, often times citing that it doesn't exist because it's a white-only country.
- His racist and controversial authority is a cause of the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles. He saw the rioters/protesters to be nothing but criminals and "monkeys in a zoo".
Death
Parker died at the age of 61 from a heart attack at an award dinner.
In Popular Culture
- Bruce Dern portrayed Parker in the 1996 film, Mulholland Falls.
- Nick Nolte portrayed Parker in the 2013 movie Gangster Squad.
- Neal McDonough portrayed Parker at the rank of captain in the 2013 television miniseries Mob City.
- Parker appeared in archival footage in the critically acclaimed documentary O.J.: Made in America.
- The character Spock in Star Trek is said to be modeled and based off of William H. Parker.