On October 6, 2020 co-authors Luis Daniel Gascón and Aaron Roussell, joined Dr. Clinton Nichols of the Dominican University Sociology and Criminology department to discuss the research and findings from their book The Limits of Community Policing: Civilian Power and Police Accountability in Black and Brown Los Angeles
Addressing conflicts between police and communities, the authors 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.
At a time when these issues have taken center stage, this discussion offers a critical understanding of how community policing really works.
