Emil Harris

Emil Harris (December 29, 1839 – April 28, 1921)[1][2] was the only Jewish police chief in Los Angeles, California.[3] He was also the second to have occupied the position since it was established in 1877.[4] Harris was appointed to serve for one year from December 27, 1877 to December 5, 1878.[5]

Background

He was born in Prussia and immigrated to Los Angeles in 1869. He helped create the city's first volunteer fire department. He began on six-person police department where he quickly became a deputy chief. The Yiddish-speaking cop became chief after his leadership in the Chinatown massacre of 1871.[4] He was previously a detective who - together with then chief B.F. "Frank" Hartley and other officers - captured the horse thief Tiburcio Vasquez in 1874[6] at the present-day intersection of Santa Monica Blvd. and Kings Road.

In 1879, he also became the mayor pro tempore of Los Angeles.[5]

Resources

3. Remember the Roots of the JCCs | Community Briefs | Jewish Journal
4. Hays, Thomas G.; Sjoquist, Arthur W. (2005). Los Angeles Police Department. San Francisco, CA: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 13–14. ISBN 0738530255.
5. Marcus, Kenneth H. (2016). Schoenberg and Hollywood Modernism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 336. ISBN 9781107064997.
6. Boessenecker, John (2012-10-11). Bandido: The Life and Times of Tiburcio Vasquez. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 311. ISBN 9780806141275.

• "L.A. Then and Now A Forgotten Hero From a Night of Disgrace," Cecilia Rasmussen, Los Angeles Times, May 16, 1999.