Clemence Brooks Horrall (September 24, 1895 – October 4, 1960) was
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
chief of police
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boa ...
from June 16, 1941, when he succeeded
Arthur C. Hohmann to serve as the 41st chief of the L.A.P.D., to June 28, 1949, when he resigned under pressure during a grand jury investigation of
police corruption
Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers end up breaking their political contract and abuse their power for personal gain. This type of corruption may involve one or a group of officers. Internal police ...
. Clemence Brooks Horrall was born in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
and graduated from
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...
. Horrall had become chief when Hohmann, under pressure from Los Angeles Mayor
Fletcher Bowron
Fletcher Bowron (August 13, 1887 – September 11, 1968) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. He was the 35th mayor of Los Angeles, California, from September 26, 1938, until June 30, 1953. He was at the time the city's longest-serving ...
, voluntarily took a demotion to deputy chief after he had become ensnared in a police corruption trial that had embarrassed the mayor.
During his tenure as chief many significant events occurred that would shape Los Angeles during the decade of the 1940s, when the population of the city proper surged from 1.5 million to nearly 2 million people. Events such as
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
,
Japanese-American relocation and
internment
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
(see
Japanese American internment
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
), the
Zoot Suit Riots
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots that took place from June 3–8, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, involving American servicemen stationed in Southern California and young Latino and Mexican American city resident ...
of 1943 and the
Black Dahlia homicide roiled the city, as did the
Brenda Allen
Brenda Allen (aka Marie Mitchell) was a madam based in Los Angeles, California, whose arrest in 1948 triggered a scandal that led to the attempted reform of the Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D.). Allen received police protection due to he ...
vice scandal of 1948–49 that led to Chief Horrall's resignation after it was found that officers involved with the Hollywood madam
perjured
Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
themselves under oath during
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
testimony, as did Horrall himself. He resigned in 1949, succeeded by Marine Major General
William A. Worton
William Arthur Worton (January 4, 1897 – July 25, 1973) was a Marine Corps major general who served in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He was also an interim Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from June 1949 to 1950.
Ear ...
.
Clemence Horrall died in 1960 from a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
and was buried in
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, by
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills are a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California.
Geography
The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains.
The neighborhood touches Studio City, Univer ...
.
In popular culture
* When
Jack Webb
John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, Television director, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Joe Friday, Sgt. Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise) ...
's radio program ''
Dragnet'' commenced in 1949, Horrall's endorsement of the program was acknowledged at the end of every episode. That tradition continued with
W. A. Worton and continued throughout the various spin offs of ''Dragnet''.
* In the 2011
Team Bondi video game ''
L.A. Noire'', LAPD Chief of Police William Worrell is directly based on Clemence B. Horall.
* He is portrayed by
Michael McGrady in the 2013 television series, ''
Mob City
''Mob City'' is an American neo-noir crime drama television series created by Frank Darabont for TNT. It is based on real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D. and gangsters in 1940s Los Angeles as chronicled in John Buntin's book ''L.A. Noir: The Strugg ...
''.
See also
*
List of Los Angeles Police Department chiefs of police
The Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department is the head of the LAPD.
List of police chiefs
See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Los Angeles Police Department Chiefs Of Police
Police
Law enforcement workers from California
...
References
External links
*
1895 births
1960 deaths
Chiefs of the Los Angeles Police Department
{{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub