‘District Policing’ Project to Be Launched at 4 Divisions

Marking another step in the Los Angeles Police Department’s continuing campaign to practice a more community-oriented style of policing, the LAPD on Monday will unveil in four divisions an experiment to make lieutenants responsible for geographic areas rather than time slots.

The idea, which the LAPD has labeled “district policing,” makes lieutenants responsible for a slice of an area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That is a change from the current setup, which has them responsible for an entire police division but only for a portion of the day.

Police Chief Willie L. Williams said the new arrangement will give lieutenants a greater sense of responsibility for their territory and may strengthen their ties to the community.

“This creates ownership,” Williams said.

Assistant Chief Bayan Lewis is behind the experimental program, but it dates to the policies of retired Chief Edward Davis, who introduced team policing to Los Angeles in the 1970s. Team policing and offshoots such as Neighborhood Watch are credited as being the precursors to community-based policing, a philosophy of law enforcement advanced by Williams and others.