Limits of Community Policing

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.