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

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 a 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. 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 at the present-day intersection of Santa Monica Blvd. and Kings Road.

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

Resources

1. Kitaeff, Jack (2006). Jews in Blue: The Jewish American Experience in Law Enforcement. ISBN 9781934043042.
2. "OLD WEST ROGUES - Emil Harris: The First Chief of Police of Los Angeles". disc.yourwebapps.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02.
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.

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• 1839 births
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• 19th-century American Jews
• 19th-century German Jews
• Chiefs of the Los Angeles Police Department
• Prussian emigrants to the United States
• People from Los Angeles
• Jewish history stubs
• United States law enforcement biography stubs