Bloody Christmas (1951)

Bloody Christmas was the name given to the severe beating of seven civilians by members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on December 25, 1951. The attacks, which left five Hispanic and two white young men with broken bones and ruptured organs, was only properly investigated after lobbying from the Mexican American community. The internal inquiry by Los Angeles Chief of Police William H. Parker resulted in eight police officers being indicted for the assaults, 54 being transferred, and 39 suspended.

The event was fictionalized in the 1990 novel L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy, which was made into a film of the same name in 1997.

In 1938, reforms of the LAPD were started by Mayor Frank Shaw. Throughout the 1940s, this led to corrupt officers being fired, the raising of entrance standards, the creation of rigorous training programs, and better pay for officers. Police autonomy was already guaranteed in Section 202 of the Los Angeles city charter since 1934. It stated that officers had a vested right to their jobs and could not be removed or disciplined without due process, which meant that authority regarding departmental discipline belonged to a board of review made up of police officers.

Despite the reforms, the LAPD was faced with a continual deterioration in relations with the Mexican American community that had been ongoing since the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots that took place during the Second World War. After William H. Parker was appointed chief of police in 1950, reforms continued with improving policing in Los Angeles by placing emphasis on police professionalism. Parker believed better personnel would lead to more "police autonomy" allowing the LAPD to focus on its "war-on-crime approach" to policing and for dealing with its own internal discipline. Proponents believed a professional police department should be free from political influence and control.

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