Members of the LAPD were revealed to have undertaken a campaign of brutal harassment, including the bombings of political reformers who had incurred the wrath of the department and the civic administration.

Under Chief Davis, civil service reforms were implemented in the City Charter via the ballot initiative process, which insulated the police department from political influence.

Davis declared that the LAPD would "hold court on gunmen in the Los Angeles streets; I want them brought in dead, not alive and will reprimand any officer who shows the least mercy to a criminal.

Under Chief Steckel, departmental regulations forbidding the solicitation of rewards or the acceptance of gratuities by policemen had lapsed; Davis reimplemented the restrictions.

"[6] Mayor Shaw appointed his campaign manager, James "Sunny Jimmy" Bolger, to serve as Davis' secretary, in order to keep a tight rein on the Chief.

[4] Parker also drafted civil service reforms enacted into the City's charter that were designed to protect the chief and police personnel from political interference.

[4] During Davis' second term as chief, New York mobster Bugsy Siegel arrived in Los Angeles with a mandate from his partners in the National Crime Syndicate to put Southern California vice rackets under top-down control.

Siegel quietly and quickly seized control of vice operations in the region, which put him at odds with local racketeers, especially Jack Dragna and Guy McAfee.

After Siegel's assassination in June 1947, Cohen was anointed head of the national syndicate's operations in the Southwest – a move that sparked a gang war in Los Angeles.

Charles Stoker alleged that Hollywood madam Brenda Allen had paid into a protection racket operated by senior LAPD Vice officers who reported directly to the Chief.

For several months in 1936, during the height of the devastation from the "Dust Bowl", Chief Davis sent LAPD to the California-Arizona border in an attempt to stop the flow of migrants.

Based on collected intelligence by Lewis, the U.S. Navy arrested two Marines who were selling rifles and 12,000 rounds of ammunition to local Nazis.

However, when Lewis initially approached local authorities, Davis rejected his concerns, only assuring him that if the Nazis in Los Angeles ever became a threat to "life and property", the police would "handle it.

'"[12]In 1937, restaurateur Clifford Clinton, a reform-minded businessman who ran a chain of cafeteria-style restaurants, got himself appointed to the Los Angeles County grand jury.

The profits from 600 brothels, 1,800 bookmaking operations, 23,000 slot machines and prostitution were being used to finance political elections, and the LAPD was working hand-in-hand with the underworld.

Clinton was harassed by city officials, who boosted his taxes and denied him a license to open up a new cafeterias, while the Los Angeles Times attacked him and his restaurant chain.

District Attorney Fitts and Chief Davis began a desultory investigation that led the director of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce to send a letter to U.S.