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
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 protecting.
When a police commander like me says something like this, sometimes skeptics will dismiss it as just political correctness or public relations or confusion about the difference between policing and social work. Those skeptics are wrong. Relationship building is an essential ingredient in the historic reductions in crime we’ve seen across the city, and especially in parts of South L.A. …
