The Rodney King incident and its subsequent impact on the LAPD represent the effect of a long history and practice of the LAPD. This history distanced the LAPD from the democratic principles they sought to protect and serve. The subsequent changes required the agency to overcome a long tradition that emphasized the LAPD as in control of itself and the city and that emphasized the social and political independence of the LAPD from its constituents. The LAPD received a grant for Partnerships for Community Policing from the National Institute of Justice in October 1992. The grant focused on three objectives: (1) the creation of a long-range strategic plan to provide a strategic vision and organizational value system to support community and problem-oriented policing; (2) the revitalization of the LAPD's Basic Car Plan, the central mechanism for police service delivery; and (3) the strengthening of the LAPD's capacity to interact with the communities served. The Los Angeles experienced demonstrated that momentum for change has an important attachment to the external setting, although it is often regarded as an internal organizational issue. The LAPD will probably struggle with its change for a long time. Notes and 13 references