An Inspiring Article In The NY ...
ServiceSpace
--Wendy Berk
1 minute read
Aug 16, 2016

 

An inspiring article in the NY Times about how 2 adversaries -- a chief of police and a civil rights lawyer -- came together to create a successful community policing program in LA: How Community Policing Can Work
 

Come to Watts and East Los Angeles and you will see the Police Department’s Community Safety Partnership unit, which operates in seven of the city’s most violent public housing projects. Here, officers call out residents’ names in greeting and patrol on foot with gang intervention specialists. The officers earn trust by participating in a range of neighborhood activities — everything from buying bifocals for older people to helping start a farmers’ market and sports leagues for kids. The unit’s officers are not promoted for making arrests, but for demonstrating how they diverted a kid from jail and increased trust. Above all, they do not view residents of high-crime areas as potential suspects or deportees but as partners in public safety.
 
 

Posted by Wendy Berk on Aug 16, 2016


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