The Bum Blockade, Zoot Suit Riot and Bloody Christmas

November 26, 1991 — Change of venue is granted to the four indicted officers; judge moves the trial to the Ventura County suburb of Simi Valley — home to hundreds of LAPD officers.

April 29, 1992 — The four officers are acquitted of all counts but one, which is dismissed by the judge. Infuriated by the verdict, people take to the streets, and three days of disorder, looting, death and destruction sweep through South-Central, Hollywood, Compton, San Pedro and Long Beach. Thousands of National Guard troops quell the disturbances. Fifty-two die, more than 2,300 are injured, and insured losses total $1 billion. The L.A. Timescalls the '92 riots the deadliest, costliest and worst "U.S. civil disturbance of the 20th century."

June 1992 — LAPD Chief Daryl Gates is forced to resign in disgrace.

June 1992 — Pro-police reform Charter Amendment F is passed by voters by a 2-1 margin. LAPD chiefs' tenure is limited to two five-year terms.

June 1992 — Willie Williams, the former head of the Philadelphia P.D., is sworn in as L.A.'s first black police chief.

August 1992 — The four LAPD officers who beat King are indicted by the federal government for violating King's civil rights.

June 1993 — Richard Riordan is elected mayor after promising he's "tough enough" to restore law and order. City Hall puts Christopher Commission reforms on the back burner.

August 1993 — Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell, two of the officers in the King beating, are found guilty and receive two-and-a-half-year jail sentences. The two other officers are acquitted.

April 1994— A jury orders the city to pay King $3.8 million to compensate for his beating.

1995 — The City Charter is amended to create the independent Office of Inspector General, charged with policing the police.

1997 — The Police Commission refuses to re-hire Willie Williams for a second five-year term.

1997 — Veteran LAPD manager Bernard Parks is selected as chief by Mayor Riordan.

March 1998 — Six pounds of cocaine is reported missing from the LAPD evidence property room.

August 1998 — Chief Parks announces that 85 percent of the Christopher Commission reforms have been implemented and that reform of the LAPD is essentially complete.

August 1998 — Rampart Division CRASH Officer Rafael Perez is arrested for stealing the missing cocaine.

December 1998 — A jury votes 8-4 to convict Perez.

September 1999 — Perez makes a deal with the D.A.: five years in prison and immunity for all past crimes (excluding murder). In return, he agrees to inform on other officers; he accuses about 70 Rampart CRASH officers of brutal beatings, bad shootings, routine lying, writing false reports, and planting drugs and guns on gang members. Eventually scores of criminal convictions are overturned.

December 1999 — The L.A. Timesobtains Perez's testimony, and the Rampart scandal breaks wide-open, raising questions about Chief Parks' leadership and commitment to reform.

March 2000 — Chief Parks presents his report on Rampart and blames the scandal on a few bad apples and "mediocre" middle management. The investigation is limited almost solely to the Rampart CRASH units. No official investigation of the LAPD's other divisions is ever completed. Mayor Riordan labels the report the most detailed and honest inquiry "in the history of mankind."

September 2000 — Over stiff resistance from Parks and initially from Mayor Riordan, the city of Los Angeles enters into a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department giving a federal judge power to monitor the LAPD for five years. The federal government had otherwise threatened to press a massive civil rights lawsuit.

October 2000 — Three of four Rampart CRASH officers named by Perez and tried on obstruction of justice and other charges are found guilty.

November 2000 — Javier Ovando settles his lawsuit against the city for $15 million. An unarmed Ovando had been shot by Perez and his partner, paralyzed for life, and sentenced to over 20 years in prison for allegedly trying to kill the officers.

December 2000— The convictions of the convicted CRASH officers are overturned by a Superior Court judge.

January 2001 — The L.A. County District Attorney announces that he will appeal the judge's decision.

March 2001 — Three more CRASH officers, including Perez's partner, Nino Durden, reach plea agreements with state and federal prosecutors. A fourth is indicted and pleads innocent.

July 2001 — Perez is placed on parole after serving three years in prison.

November 2001 — The Police Protective League vows to spend as much $1 million to thwart the re-hiring of Chief Parks.

February 2002 — Mayor James Hahn announces he opposes Parks' re-hiring. South-Central's black leadership is outraged and vows to fight for Parks' retention.

April 2002 — The Los Angeles Police Commission votes 4-1 not to re-hire Parks and begins a nationwide search for a new chief; Parks leaves his post and announces a run for the City Council.

July 2002 — Fifty-one candidates apply to be Los Angeles' next chief of police, among them former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, Portland Police Chief and former LAPD Assistant Chief Mark Kroeker, Oxnard Chief of Police Art Lopez, LAPD Assistant Chief David J. Gascon, and Deputy Chiefs David Kalish and Margaret York.

August 2002 — The Police Commission narrows down the candidate list to 27. By early September, the commission will hand a final list of three contenders to Mayor Hahn, who will make the final choice. The Los Angeles City Council will have the right to challenge any choice.