The Limits of Community Policing: Civilian Power and Police Accountability in Black and Brown Los Angeles

A critical look at the realities of community policing in South Los Angeles

The Limits of Community Policing addresses conflicts between police and communities. Luis Daniel Gascón and Aaron Roussell depart from traditional conceptions, arguing that community policing--popularized for decades as a racial panacea--is not the solution it seems to be.

Tracing this policy back to its origins, they focus on the Los Angeles Police Department, which first introduced community policing after the high-profile Rodney King riots. Drawing on over sixty interviews with officers, residents, and stakeholders in South LA's "Lakeside" precinct, they show how police tactics amplified--rather than resolved--racial tensions, complicating partnership efforts, crime response and prevention, and accountability.

Gascón and Roussell shine a new light on the residents of this neighborhood to address the enduring--and frequently explosive--conflicts between police and communities. At a time when these issues have taken center stage, this volume offers a critical understanding of how community policing really works.

Author: Luis Daniel Gascón,Aaron Roussell
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 07/23/2019
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781479842254

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2020

About the Author
Roussell, Aaron: - Aaron Roussell is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Portland State University.Gascón, Luis Daniel: - Luis Daniel Gascón is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of San Francisco.