Reporter who lost a frat brother remembers another Daryl Gates

Let me call your attention to a new Visiting Blogger post about Daryl Gates — our second exclusive piece by longtime journalists who had extensive dealings with the late LAPD chief. The first one by David Cay Johnston, formerly of the New York Times and the L.A. Times, remembered Gates' more controversial side. In tonight's piece, Arnold Friedman recalls first encountering Gates as the police beat reporter for the Daily News, back when it was still the Valley News & Green Sheet. Only later, after a fraternity brother who was an LAPD detective was gunned down in a shocking hit on the street in Canoga Park, did Friedman learn about Daryl Gates the man. "His devotion to his cops and their families is an unshakable part of the Gates legacy," Friedman writes. Read the whole thing.

Photo of Daryl Gates in 1987 by Mike Mullen, Herald Examiner Collection, Los Angeles Public Library