Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall.
The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was an American left-wing organization active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a vanguard army. The SLA was considered a terrorist organization by the FBI and American law enforcement, and the pursuit and prosecution of its members lasted until 2003, when member Sara Jane Olson was sentenced for second-degree murder. During its active years, the group committed bank robberies, murdered police officers and civilians, and attempted bombings, among other violent crimes.
The SLA became internationally notorious for the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst, abducting the 19-year-old from Berkeley, California. Interest increased when Hearst, in audiotaped messages delivered to and broadcast by regional news media, announced that she had joined the SLA. Hearst later said that members of the SLA threatened to kill her, held her in close confinement, and sexually assaulted and brainwashed her. As of 2017, all but one of the surviving SLA members have been released from prison.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-largest municipal police department in the United States, after the New York City Police Department and the Chicago Police Department.
The LAPD has its headquarters at 100 W. 1st St., in the Civic Center, not far from the demolished Parker Center it replaced in 2009. The organization of the department is complex, including 21 divisions (stations) grouped in four bureaus in the Office of Operations; multiple divisions within the Detective Bureau in the Office of Special Operations; and specialized units such as SWAT, K-9, mounted police, air support and the Major Crimes Division all within the Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau. Further offices support the chief of police in areas such as constitutional policing and professional standards, while the Office of Support Services covers facilities management, personnel and training, among other areas.
Independent investigative commissions have documented a history of police brutality, corruption, and discriminatory policing within the LAPD. In 2001, the United States Department of Justice entered into a consent decree with the LAPD regarding systemic civil rights violations and lack of accountability that stretched back decades. As a result of major reforms, the consent decree was lifted in 2013.