How 10 Year Olds, Not Cops, Spearhead Gang Prevention in South L.A.

The Leader of Los Angeles’ Gang Reduction and Youth Development Tried to Avoid Giving At-Risk Kids a Common Enemy

It seems counterintuitive, but it was one of the most important lessons I learned while leading Los Angeles’ Gang Reduction & Youth Development (GRYD) program in South L.A. and other neighborhoods. The police and other law enforcement officials are precisely the wrong people to be working on gang reduction. Los Angeles is fortunate to have a smart and diverse police force, and officers are needed to stop violent and law-breaking gang members from putting the public in danger. But the gang prevention focus needs to be on keeping gang-age young …

By Jeff Carr | July 7, 2016

In South L.A., a More Approachable Police Force Has Led to a Safer Community

An LAPD Commander Returned to the Area Where He Was Born to Help Officers Get to Know the Neighbors

By Phillip Tingirides | July 7, 2016

Here’s one big lesson from the progress we’ve seen in South Los Angeles: effective policing requires building deep relationships and real personal connections with the people whom you’re charged with …

Why TV Moved Its Crime Bosses to Modesto and Oceanside

In Search of Grittier Settings, Hollywood Embraces California's Metropolitan Edges

By Joe Mathews | June 16, 2016

At first glance, the setting for Hollywood’s newest gangland drama might be jarring: northern San Diego County, in the small city of Oceanside.

But you really shouldn’t be surprised, at least …

A Mass Murderer Is Testing the Limits of Scandinavian Goodwill

Norway’s Most Dangerous Man Is Back in the Spotlight, Leading Many to Wonder How Much Compassion He Deserves

By Bruno Kaufmann | March 24, 2016

For four days in March, I watched Norway’s national devil return to public view, in another installment of the courtroom drama familiarly titled Breivik v. State. Andres Behring Breivik, now …

Is Photography a Method of Social Control?

From Mug Shots to Crime Scene Photos, a New Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Explores How the Camera Casts Suspicion

March 15, 2016

Paris, 1888: An eccentric police officer named Alphonse Bertillon creates a new way of looking at criminals or suspected criminals. Law enforcement has already been dabbling with the relatively new …

I Could Never Talk to My Dad About How I Saved Him From Prison

He Never Told Me About His Shady Betting Ring, but I Covered His Tracks Anyway

By Kathleen Garrett | February 17, 2016

I stood frozen with two of my sisters, Donna and Elaine, as we stared at the millions of pieces of little white paper that were lying in front of us …

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