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Conversation With Mark Kroeker : ‘Dynamic Partnership’ Can Attack Crime

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Question: How do you define community policing by the Los Angeles Police Department?

Answer: I see it as an approach which orients the police towards the community and its interests. It uses problem-solving strategies, focuses heavily on distinct neighborhoods and brings police and community together in a dynamic partnership.

Q: How does that differ from community-based policing proposed by Anthony Thigpenn of AGENDA, the activist neighborhood organization in South-Central Los Angeles?

A: I don’t think there is much difference. The similarities, the mutual goals, are much more significant than some minor differences.

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Q: What mutual goals?

A: The reduction of crime and the fear of crime in neighborhoods; the improvement of the quality of life and an improved relationship between the police and community.

Q: Isn’t there the perception in some quarters in the South Bureau that the LAPD is minimizing input from existing neighborhood block clubs by using senior lead officers to organize the program?

A: It’s recruiting. It’s not the “anointing-appointing” process--that implies that we as a Police Department are in some kind of superior position. In South Bureau--with 750,000 people--some neighborhoods are abundantly represented by either very effective community-based organizations or existing general-purpose block clubs. But many neighborhoods don’t have people organized to work with the police in solving their own problems. Our doors are open. Every time I go to a community meeting I recruit block captains--especially in areas where none have been identified. The organization already includes about 150 community police representatives and 600 block captains in the South Bureau.

Q: Don’t some people claim they’re being left out?

A: We have a huge Latino community across the South Bureau that is in desperate need of inclusion. We’ve got a long way to go. So the recruitment efforts are really deepening when it comes to that 40% to 70% of our neighborhoods which are Latino and which have a language barrier. Yes, people are being left out. But it’s not by design. It’s our desire--it’s my desire--that anyone who wishes to work in enhancing the quality of neighborhood life should be included. No one should feel that they’re on the periphery.

Q: So it’s not that you object to neighborhoods picking their own representatives in whatever manner they wish; you just don’t want the Police Department administering what amounts to a citywide election?

A: Exactly. Our system has to be kept simple and inclusive.

Q: Some community activists are pressing for neighborhood participation in policy planning, disciplinary reviews and tactics. Isn’t that different from the kind of participation you’re talking about?

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A: Policy for an organization with 10,000 employees cannot be developed in neighborhoods. In a city spread over 464 square miles with a tremendous diversity of people, you cannot develop a Balkanized policy structure that differs radically from one neighborhood to the next. The city of Los Angeles and its Charter specifies the manner in which policy is developed through the mayor, City Council and, as to the Police Department, the Police Commission.

Q: Is community-based policing, as you’ve described it, an efficient use of taxpayers’ money?

A: It’s squandering tax dollars to do anything but a system of policing that maximizes the energy that exists in the neighborhoods. I’m interested in it as it affects crime, the fear of crime and those goals which we’ve set for enhancing life in our city. If it’s just sweet talk, eyewash and PR, then I don’t have time for it.

Q: Do you see any hope for compromise between you and community activists?

A: I don’t think compromise is the right word. I think mutuality of understanding is better. It’s not as though we’ve got two very distinctly differing ideas. I’ve got a very clear vision for our city, and that is to make it a better place for everyone who lives and works here.

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