Building Relationships in LA Brings Down Crime Rate

December 20, 2012

Despite violent events like last week's school shootings in Connecticut, the crime rate in the United States has generally been falling, and serious crimes like murder and rape have been declining. In Los Angeles, better relationships between the police and community are making neighborhoods safer.

A quiet afternoon is interrupted with the sound of helicopters as dozens of officers from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and California Highway Patrol capture a suspect in a robbery and shooting. The arrest followed a 100-kilometer car chase.

It took place outside a community center in a low-income housing project called Imperial Courts, where the Los Angeles Police Department was conducting a toy giveaway.

Police chief Charlie Beck helped hand out the presents. It was part of an outreach to the community in South Los Angeles that has led to a major drop in crime in these projects and the city. Things were different a few years ago, says LAPD Captain Phillip Tingirides.

“The everyday community folks were angry. There was some hatred towards us, for how LAPD had treated the community over a number of years prior,” Tingirides said.

Relations were at a low point in 1992, when civil unrest rocked Los Angeles. It was sparked by the acquittal of four police officers accused of beating a black motorist, Rodney King. More than 50 people died in the riots, and Gil Mathieu's pharmacy was one of the many businesses destroyed. It is open again today, and relations with police have improved, says customer Jerome Bynum. He has had many encounters with Los Angeles police in this place once plagued with drugs and violence.