Younger Angelenos have a much more negative view of the police than older people, according to polls
California politics
Libor JanyMarch 20, 2023
Angelenos are divided in their views on
how good
the Los Angeles Police Department
does its job
,
show with
a sharp generation gap
how they assess the performance of the force whether the department is performing well
and or
are
officers generally treat people of all races fairly, a new poll shows.
So did the Suffolk University/Los Angeles Times poll
residents of LA residents of Los Angeles
are more supportive than
that of humans
several other major cities about shifting money away from police and using it to fund community-based approaches to public safety.
About a third of
Inhabitants of the city of Angelenos
rated the LAPD’s performance as excellent or good. The largest share
of those surveyed
4 out of 10, rated the department’s work as
only
reasonable, while slightly less than a quarter
rated it bad. said the department was doing a bad job.
There was a clear generation gap.
d on that question and another on whether the officers of the department were racially biased
Among residents
the age of
35, about 2 in 10 rated the LAPD
s performance
as excellent or good, while
almost close
4 out of 10
rated it bad. said the city’s police department was doing a poor job.
Among residents aged 55 and older, slightly more than half score
the
LAPD
performance
as excellent or good, and 1 out of 10
rated it bad. said it did a bad job.
A similar age difference occurred in whether the police generally “treat people of different races fairly, even if there are a few bad apples on the force” or “are racist in the way they treat people, even if some of them trying to do that”. do a good job.”
Overall, more than half of LA residents told police
his wares
generally fair, while about a third said yes
are
racist.
Angelenos under 35
However,
goods
about more than
twice as likely as those 55 and older to say so
the
LA cops are racist.
The generation gap in that area poses a challenge to Mayor Karen Bass and other city leaders
police community
relationships
between police and municipality
after a series of high-profile murders and bouts of unrest, said David Paleologos, who runs the Political Research Center
from Boston
University of Suffolk
in Boston
other
WHO
supervised the poll.
There’s a big difference in how they see the police versus middle-aged or older people,” he said. When, in fact, 1 in 2 [younger] people or residents in LA say the cops are racist… that’s another opinion, and if a mayor or city councilor or police chief wants to heal racial divisions, they should do it there.
While many Angelenos believe
That
crime is on the rise, younger people are less likely to see the police as the only response, the survey found.
All in all almost 6 out of 10
LA
Residents said they’d rather see more LAPD officers in their neighborhood,
versus compared to about
1 in 4 said they would
edit
less to see
officers
other
about
1 in 6 said they would
edit
the number to stay
about
the same.
LA residents under age 35
However,
were almost equally divided between more or less officers in their community.
Views on whether the police are racist strongly shape how residents rate the department in general. About three quarters of those who rate the LAPD
s performance
as the poor said they believe
d the powerit’s what
racist.
In contrast, LA residents’ beliefs about crime had much less impact on how they rated the LAPD’s job performance.
Those who felt crime was on the rise gave the LAPD about the same
function
approval
to notice
as those who
to believe that is crime is to be crime
on the fall. Those who reported feeling unsafe in their neighbourhood
However
about 1 in 5 LA residents were slightly more likely to rate the LAPD as bad work.
The percentage of LA residents who have an unfavorable view of the police is greater than in other cities Suffolk recently surveyed as part of a series of polls in major metropolitan areas.
was not surprised
paleologos
said was not surprising
.
“You’ve lived through some high-profile, high-profile tragedies that have happened at the hands of Los Angeles police officers, and I think those memories are etched in people’s minds and have been for quite some time,” he said.
That may be part of the reason why LA residents were more likely to be in favor of redirecting some police funding to social services (56%) than
that of in
other cities Suffolk surveyed, including Detroit (49%), Louisville
Ky.
(47%) and Oklahoma City (41%).
That speaks to the dissatisfaction,” said Paleologos. There’s still a lot of work to be done to even bring Los Angeles up to par with other cities, in terms of policing and police perceptions.”
Louis Rabaso, 29, a high school instructor in the San Fernando Valley, was one of the respondents who agreed to a follow-up interview.
even
His views on law enforcement as a child were mostly negative,
he said, but have them
softened
as he gets older, he said.
His dealings with police as an adult were “very polite,” and he never felt he was unfairly targeted or punished, he said.
Still, he acknowledges his privilege as a “white-looking” multi-ethnic person, suggesting he may have had more favorable police treatment than
members of
other minorities.
I think it really depends on what community you live in, he said.
Steven Simons, a freelance photographer living in Hollywood,
WHO
rated the LAPD’s job performance as
just now
honestly
other
said he had numerous run-ins with police that made him feel that officers could be racist.
Simons, 57 and of Chinese and Dutch descent, said in a follow-up interview that he thinks the police are sometimes asked too much
and serve, serve
as a safety net
solutions
for many social problems.
I understand that a lot of things are put on them. In my opinion, they are called on calls to be handled by social workers rather than them,” Simons said. [rating]. I just feel like the whole culture needs to be changed.
the
bearing
Results come as some categories of violent crime
to have
Get on
i.e
decrease in parts of the city.
After an election cycle dominated by concerns about rising crime, Los Angeles ended 2022 with fewer homicides and shootings than in 2021, raising hopes that the wave of violence over the past two years is leveling off. The death toll
Calm
however, remains significantly higher than in 2019.
Police officials have attributed the turnaround in part to improved community involvement and closer cooperation with other law enforcement agencies.
Some experts argue that with the US
emerging from opening backup after
the COVID-19 pandemic, the likely causes of the spikes in violence across the country are diminishing. Lots of social services
that kept people safe
are active again and most schools are personal again
class learning
leaving fewer adolescents unsupervised.
But criminologists, law enforcement officials and other experts warn that the causes of the 2020 and 2021 spikes may never be fully understood.
Bass laid out her expectations for the LAPD and Chief Michel Moore last month in a comprehensive plan that calls for strengthening detective ranks to improve
sagging
cleanup rates and streamlining the
city
recruiting, hiring and training process
new
officers.
She also indicated that she wanted to overhaul the discipline of the department
arye
system to restore public confidence.
She said her administration would work with the county to expand the capabilities of the Mental Evaluation Unit, which pairs officers with county social workers trained in deescalating standoffs with people believed to be mentally ill. The units are not available for now
around the clock, 24/7,
in pieces
because of because of
a shortage
from the inside
mental health practitioners, police said.
Bass said she wants to ensure that efforts to reduce violence are focused in the communities most affected by serious crimes. An important concern
she Bass
said, homicide clearance rates are improving, which fell from about 77% in 2019 to 66% in 2021. Murders involving Black and Latino victims were being solved at an even slower rate, she said.
The Suffolk University/LA Times survey results reflect this
that of
a poll
performed in 2022 taken last year
by Loyola Marymou
N
t University, which found that public trust in the LAPD had improved somewhat over the past two years, even though more than half of the
of the city
Residents believed that officers were sometimes racially biased.
That poll showed that 71% of
Angelenos people interrogated
believed the police served and protected my neighborhood, up from 63% in 2020. At the same time, a large majority of
respondents people
said it would be better if the police were alone
were not summoned
handle calls involving vulnerable groups such as the mentally ill and the homeless.
The Suffolk University/Los Angeles Times poll, conducted March 9-12, interviewed 500 adult residents of the city of Los Angeles, using live calls to cell phones and landlines. Quotas and demographic information, including region, race, and age, were determined from census and American Community Survey data. Surveys were conducted in English and Spanish. The sampling error margin for the total sample is 4.4 percentage points in both directions. Margins of error increase for smaller subgroups. All surveys may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage errors and measurement errors.