¶ … Los Angeles Police Department is one of the city agencies that reaches across the southland and touches the lives of all citizens. Over the course of the 20th century, the LAPD has often become a symbol of racial and class politics in the city. Do you think this is a useful way of thinking about the LAPD? What events in the history of Los Angeles might you use the LAPD to explain? What other agencies or forces in the city might complement the LAPD or offer and alternative way of thinking about the city?
I think it is useful to discuss the LAPD as a symbol of racial and class politics, but that it should also be discussed in terms of power structures within the city, as the police in Los Angeles have evolved with the city, especially under Bill Parker, who clashed with the mob and men like Mickey Cohen as he cemented power for himself. The Watts Riot, for example, is one example in which we can better understand the LAPD. The police had had a history of roughing up minorities and so there was much distrust between the power elites (whites) and the blacks, Hispanics, etc. Parker embodied the white elitism and Puritanism that festered beneath the city. At the same time, the lower class caste (blacks, Hispanics) had to contend with racism and suspicion and by mid-century, the issues of segregation, white supremacy, radicalism, and assertiveness on the part of the Negro were coming to the fore. When the LAPD incited another riot (the Watts Riot) by clashing with local blacks, the city's racial and political tensions quickly came to the surface.
The role of the underworld, the relationship between organized crime, the political bosses, and the LAPD is something that can help shed light on both the city and its evolution and the police force and its development. In its early days, there was more corruption and the police department was...
Recent fatal attacks by police against unarmed citizens -- in particular African-American males -- have been portrayed as insensitive, illegal, and unnecessary violence by cable news programs over the past few years. And those televised reports (shown over and over) have caused angry citizens to participate in large demonstrations in American city streets. Fairly or unfairly, these incidents have caused citizens to turn against police departments -- albeit most police
My Community My Town My Community My TownLOCATIONLos Angeles city my Community my Town is situated along the coastal plain sandwiched between a hilly peninsula and two mountain ranges. Under the mountain peaks are valleys, rivers, ocean beaches, valleys, and canyons. Los Angeles city was claimed in 1542 by Juan Rodr�guez Cabrillo and established in 1781 under the Spanish governor. Later on, in April 1850, Los Angeles was incorporated as
Rodney King Riots Los Angeles, a city of cars, stars, and ethnic neighborhoods, rests on the edge of a continent and shimmers with the promise of dreams fulfilled. But, as the late L.A. native and journalist George Ramos publicly confided on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, in the aftermath of the 1992 race riots, "Los Angeles, you broke my heart. And I'm not sure I'll love you
From all neighborhoods the answers were the same, that when police, residents and merchants worked together, crime was reduced. It was also recognized that there was room for improvement in Seattle's community policing efforts. First, it was stated that the citizens of Seattle must become more involved in crime-fighting activities, for it is insufficient for only a handful of residents in neighborhoods across the city to identify projects for
Community Policing According to the United States Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services Website, "Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime." Community policing is defined in similar ways throughout local police departments, although there are enough
Indeed, even the most outspoken critics of law enforcement will likely be the first to dial "9-1-1" when their homes are being burglarized or members of their families are being attacked, but the fact remains that many police department remain primarily white and male in composition. The impetus for effecting substantive changes in the composition of the nation's police forces will therefore need to be mandated in order for
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