Electoral district of Northern Tablelands and Edward M. Davis: Difference between pages

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'''Edward Michael Davis''' ([[November 15]], [[1916]] – [[April 22]], [[2006]]) was the [[chief of police|chief]] of the [[Los Angeles Police Department]] from ([[1969]]-[[1978]]), and later a [[California State Senate|California State Senator]] from ([[1981]]-[[1993]]) and an unsuccessful [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] candidate for the [[United States Senate]] in 1986. Davis' name was familiar to a generation of Americans since it appeared on its own card for "technical advice" in the closing credits of the popular television programs ''[[Dragnet (series)|Dragnet]]'' (1967-70) and ''[[Adam-12]]'' (1968-75).

'''Northern Tablelands''' is an [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly electoral districts|electoral district]] of the [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]] in the [[Australia]]n state of [[New South Wales]]. It is currently represented by independent member [[Richard Torbay]].

Born in [[Los Angeles, California]] to James Leonard Davis and Lillian Fox Davis, Davis married Virginia Osborne in [[1940]] before serving in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]]. During his term as Chief, Davis was also quite controversial: the LAPD became notorious for its policy of routinely using chokeholds for any reason—or for no reason at all—during arrests, [[Terry stop]]s, and even traffic stops. The holds were often applied until the suspect passed out. By the time the policy was halted in May 1982 by the Police Commission, 15 people had died. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a lawsuit seeking an injunction to halt the practice permanently, because Adolph Lyons could not prove that there was a substantial and immediate likelihood that he personally would be choked again. ''[[City of Los Angeles v. Lyons]]'', {{ussc|461|95|1983}}. As well, during his tenure, the [[LAPD]] and its vice squad were known for active policing against gays. Zealous officers are purported to have dangled a youth over a cliff to try to make him reveal names of a pedophile ring. Davis was often known for some of his colorful language. For instance, in one of his most famous off-the-cuff news comments, Mr. Davis said, in 1972, concerning airline hijackers: "I recommend we have a portable gallows, and after we have the death penalty back in, we conduct a rapid trial for a hijacker out there, and hang him with due process out there at the airport."[http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/14410399.htm] On April 10, 1976, over a hundred officers, with Davis present, raided a charitable "slave auction" event. Dozens of men were detained on charges of violating an 1899 anti-slavery statute, but the expensive raid was criticized by the city council and no one was convicted. See also the wikipedia article on the [[LAPD]].

Northern Tablelands is a 30,546 [[square kilometres|km²]] rural electorate, covering the uplands of northern New South Wales. It is centred on the university city of [[Armidale, New South Wales|Armidale]]; other towns included in the electorate are [[Inverell, New South Wales|Inverell]], [[Glen Innes, New South Wales|Glen Innes]], [[Tenterfield, New South Wales|Tenterfield]] and [[Uralla, New South Wales|Uralla]]. The northern boundary of the electorate is the [[Queensland]] border. At the [[2003]] election, there were 42,886 enrolled voters.

Davis was an intelligent police chief who pursued innovative approaches to crime. He balanced his tough law-and-order rhetoric with a boots-on-the-ground policing strategy that assigned officers to specific neighborhoods in an effort to build personal ties with residents. His philosophy was incorporated in a program he called the "Basic Car Plan", which divided Los Angeles into small geographical areas and assigned officers to meet with community representatives. Davis, who assigned almost 900 officers to the program, believed that police would be more effective if their duties were tailored to each locality. The officers were instructed to find out which crime problems concerned residents the most and then devise crime-fighting plans. He also created the Neighborhood Watch program which encouraged police officers to spend time in the homes of local city residents, listen to their concerns and then set up effective crime fighting initiatives. Both programs were highly innovative for their time. Significantly, in the 9 years that Mr. Davis served as police chief from 1969 to 1978 crime rates actually dipped slightly by 1% in Los Angeles while rising nationwide by 55%. His administration was respected for being one of the more professionally run, and mostly graft free police forces in the country. The community policing programs which Davis championed were either deemphasized or dismantled by the next chief, [[Daryl F. Gates]], but was re-adopted by later LA police administrations after the [[1992 Los Angeles Riots]] caused by the acquittal of police officers in the beating of [[Rodney King]] and is now utilized by police departments nationwide as an alternative to more confrontational approaches to crime.

The electorate was founded in 1981 in a redistribution which took place at that year's election. The first member was [[William McCarthy|William 'Bill' McCarthy]] of the [[Australian Labor Party]], who had previously been the member for the abolished electorate of Armidale. McCarthy held the seat until his death in 1987. At the subsequent by-election the seat was captured by the [[National Party of Australia]], seen as the natural representatives of the electorate due to its rural nature. [[Raymond Chappell|Ray Chappell]] was reelected as member 3 times, but in the [[1999]] election faced a challenge from the popular ex-mayor of Armidale, [[Richard Torbay]], standing as an independent. In a shock result Torbay won the seat with a comfortable margin, continuing a trend in NSW country areas for National Party candidates to be rejected in favour of local independents. At the most recent general election ([[2003]]), Torbay was reelected with a huge 71.3% vote before preferences, one of the largest in the state.

Davis retired in 1978 and was elected to the California State Senate two years later. He would serve for 12 years (during the first two years of which [[Tom McClintock]] served as his Chief of Staff.). He supported a gay rights protection bill and became a vocal environmentalist in his later years.[http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-davis23apr23,0,5859140.story?page=2&coll=la-home-headlines]

At the next state election, due in 2007, the low level of population growth in the electorate will lead to Northern Tablelands being expanded, both to the west to take in [[Warialda, New South Wales|Warialda]] and [[Bingara, New South Wales|Bingara]] and to the south to take in [[Walcha, New South Wales|Walcha]]. [http://www.redistribution.seo.nsw.gov.au/] This will increase the number of electors in Northern Tablelands to 48,890.

The last TV interview with Davis was videotaped in March of 2002 where he recalled his years as LAPD Chief and described the values and traits necessary to be a successful Chief of Police. He also related his impressions of a young LAPD Lt. named Bernard Parks who went on to become Chief. Ed Davis was known as the "Father of Community Policing", in this interview he described how he implemented the "community policing" program during his administration. The hour long interview was conducted by Emmy Award winning host Leslie Dutton on the [[Full Disclosure Network]]. [http://www.fulldisclosure.net/flash/VideoBlogs/334-35_Ed_Davis.php]

==Members==

Davis died in April 2006 from pneumonia.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Member

!Party affiliation

!Period

|-

| [[William McCarthy]]

| [[Australian Labor Party]]

| [[1981]]–[[1987]]

|-

| [[Raymond Chappell]]

| [[National Party of Australia]]

| [[1987]]–[[1999]]

|-

| [[Richard Torbay]]

| Independent

| [[1999]]–[[Present (time)|Present]]

|}

==External link==

{{Electoral Districts of New South Wales}}

* [http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=10 Ed Davis Park (named for Senator Davis)]

* [http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/5873 Ed Davis Political History]

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[[Category:Electoral districts of New South Wales|Northern Tablelands]]

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{{succession box | title=[[LAPD|Chief of LAPD]]| before=[[Roger E. Murdock]]| after=[[Robert F. Rock]]| years=1969–1978}}

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[[Category:1916 births|Davis, Edward Michael]]

[[Category:2006 deaths|Davis, Edward Michael]]

[[Category:Deaths by pneumonia|Davis, Edward Michael]]

[[Category:Los Angeles Police Department Chiefs|Davis, Edward Michael]]

[[Category:People from Los Angeles|Davis, Edward Michael]]