The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles are frequently trotted out as a “best case scenario” for a host city — a profitable, efficiently run showcase of American values.
This is a lie.
The ‘84 Olympics caused one of the greatest periods of injustice, oppression, and social unrest in L.A. history, culminating in the 1992 Uprising.
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LA 84 AND POLICING
During and after the 1984 Olympics, incidents of police brutality were on the rise. In the 1980s, the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office stopped investigating complaints against LAPD officers, providing cover for police to use violence against poor people and people of color.
During the “Olympic Gang Sweeps,” Police Chief Daryl Gates arrested and incarcerated thousands of Angelenos of color on phony gang suspicion charges. These Olympic Sweeps were the beginning of fascist “special divisions” within LAPD — Operation Hammer and C.R.A.S.H. (“Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums,” responsible for the notorious Rampart scandal) are two of the most infamous.
Criminalization of the unhoused was also ramped up. The city’s anti-homeless laws were passed in 1982 in preparation for the games; These often unconstitutional statutes are still used to harass and over-police the city’s unhoused population.
MILITARIZATION OF THE POLICE
The LAPD is one of the most militarized police forces in the United States because of the ’84 Games. The federal government supplied military arms and tactics, and LAPD’s SWAT division even got a tank. This sort of militarization was unprecedented before 1984.
After the Games’ Closing Ceremonies, things got worse. In February 1985, LAPD turned their new tank and its massive battering ram against communities of color. In one stark case they even destroyed a house that they claimed was being used to manufacture drugs, only to find two women eating ice cream and a dime bag of pot.
Our leaders like to tell us that L.A. is a harbinger of progressive values. But time and time again, the police demonstrate the opposite. In the wake of 1984, L.A. led the rest of the country in criminalizing and occupying Black and brown communities.
’84 TO ’92: A DIRECT CONNECTION
There is a straight line from the expansion of police terror for LA84 to the ’92 uprisings. As sports writer Dave Zirin writes:
“There was an accelerant that started the city on the road to rebellion, and it’s what is regarded to this day as one of the city’s most shining moments: the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.”
33%
From 1984-1989 There was a 33% increase in complaints against LAPD for Police Brutality.
100
The number of HELICOPTERS brought in to surveil LA during the 1984 Olympics.
24,684
The number of mostly African-American Youths swept up in Operation Hammer in the 1980’s and detained at the Coliseum.
$200 Million
The estimated cost of policing for the 1984 Olympics.
OF course, that pales next to the estimated $2-5 billion budget for the 2028 games.
