LA Ceasefire is effecting serious violence reductions in the most troubled neighborhoods of the Mission Hills area of Los Angeles. The Mission area has formed a partnership between the Los Angeles Police Department; federal, state and local prosecutors; community leaders; and service providers, including local street outreach workers and organizations such as Communities in Schools, Victory Outreach, and New Directions for Youth, to engage directly with street groups driving violent activity in the area.
Over three years of consistent implementation, the Mission area has conducted call-ins, custom notifications to repeat offenders, and special messaging to juveniles, and has seen promising declines in group-related homicides and shootings.
To improve relationships with communities of color, a reconciliation movement has begun in several cities, in which police brush up on their history, admit past mistakes, and listen to frank talk and hard truths.
"Public safety challenges in Los Angeles are real and must be addressed. However, the question is not what’s wrong with reforms attempting to correct problems, but what the county can do to effectively effectuate recent reforms — and go even farther.
Looking beyond tradition, officials will find that community leaders and crime experts alike have known for many years what works. Powerful and effective programs like the Watts Gang Task Force, where law enforcement and community street intervention teams work together to address violence at the neighborhood level; or the Community Collaborative Court in Compton that combines case management with treatment and court supervision; or The Long Beach Trauma Recovery Center that’s providing wrap around support for crime victims and their families, reducing crime and empowering communities in the process."
The Los Angeles Police Commission voted in favor of a set of changes that will deepen procedural justice practices in the LAPD. These changes relate to "how the department guards against bias, shares data about policing with the public, and disciplines and deploys officers."
"Los Angeles’ newest police commissioner called for a deep analysis Tuesday of how the LAPD handles complaints alleging racial profiling, an issue that has long stirred frustration among some residents and members of the police oversight panel."
"The Los Angeles community has spent a decade forging trust between residents and law enforcement. Here’s what it has learned."
District Attorney Jackie Lacey's Conviction Integrity Unit is producing results.
Los Angeles City Attorneys are implementing a Neighborhood Justice Program (NJP) "aimed at those who have committed a non-violent first offense." This "is not dealing with a habitual criminal, but an individual who made a bad choice and is able to move forward to rehabilitation."
"Reports of domestic violence are on the rise in Los Angeles, yet L.A. spends a substantially smaller share of its budget than other big cities on services to help victims, and it lacks a coordinated approach to ensure that the little funding it does commit is spent wisely."
"As summer waned in recent weeks, bringing to an end what is often the most violent season of the year, New York City officials tallied 239 people killed in homicides. Los Angeles police counted 201 killed in about the same period. But Chicago, whose population is dwarfed by both major coastal cities, saw a much more grim death toll, with 325 killed in homicides by Sept. 6."
Op-ed by David Kennedy on Jill Leovy's Ghettoside.
