L.A. Riots 20 Years Later: San Marino Police Chief Reflects

It’s hard to believe it has been .

The Los Angeles area was left in shambles as businesses were looted and buildings burned to the ground.

“I remember other officers going to the city and saying how eerie it was following fire trucks around and seeing people engaged in civil disorder and that kind of thing,” said , who worked as an officer in Cypress at the time.

Though Schaefer was not directly involved in the riots response, he told Patch that the riots impacted law enforcement in a lot of ways. See Schaefer’s thoughts and reflections on the L.A. riots in our Q&A below.

Patch: Though the riots didn’t take place in your city, how did it affect police response in your police department at the time?

Cheif Schaefer: I worked at the Cypress Police Department for a police chief … who was a mentor. And he said, ‘Hey, John, we’re going to jump in the car’ and we went to elementary schools in our community and we walked around and talked to kids.

The chief said, for these kids hearing there are riots … all kinds of things are going through their mind and we want to let them know that here you are still safe. The police are around and looking after you. You don’t have to worry about that.

Patch: How did you feel about the Rodney King verdict?

Chief Schaefer: Those officers were ultimately exonerated but I don’t think anyone to this day looks back on those things and thinks they didn’t do anything wrong. Why would people riot if the judicial system tried somebody and found out he was innocent?

I did not think that was appropriate for people to riot because those guys were found not guilty anymore than I would have thought it was appropriate for people to do that because OJ Simpson was exonerated. I don’t think the OJ Simpson verdict was correct but this is the system we live with here in America; it doesn’t always work the way I think it should. I guess when people riot it’s because they get to a breaking point and think, ‘We’re tired, we’re not going to take it anymore.’

Patch: As a police officer, do you feel you were you treated differently or with resentment during the Rodney King trial or after the verdict?

Cheif Schaefer: It was a very difficult time. But in law enforcement when something happens that reflects bad or a couple officers are involved in something, you know, I could be in a totally different county but it didn’t matter. People still looked at police officers and thought, ‘Oh are you going to do to me like those cops did to Rodney King?’

You felt like you were working under a microscope. There was a real tendency by law enforcement after that, I think, in the immediate to pull back and not want to be as engaged in enforcement action that might generate negative responses from the community or from people that we would arrest.

Patch: Do you think riots could happen again to the level of the L.A. Riots?

Chief Schaefer: There are way more people than cops. I don’t think any police department anywhere could prevent that from happening. I know that case was weird because at the time it seemed like the then [police] chief’s response was slow; that’s a whole other issue. … People want to riot after the Lakers game.

Patch: Do you think we have learned anything from the L.A. riots?

Chief Schaefer: I’d hope that things have progressed but when I see people today, maybe the causes are different but there are things going on today that make me think they could probably be just as awful. I don’t know all the circumstances behind the Occupy movement in Oakland where people end up getting shot. Riots have occurred in this country and the world over the course of history.

Where were you during the L.A. riots? What memories do you have of that time and do you think the riots had a long-term effect on anything? Share your thoughts in the comments section.