Policy essay on “Policing the homeless…”
Description:
In the fall of 2005, the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) pilot tested a place-based enforcement effort—the Main Street Project—to deal with homelessness in a downtown section known as Skid Row through the use of fines and citations. After anecdotal evidence of its success, the LAPD instituted a large-scale version—the Safer Cities Initiative (SCI)—in September 2006, which placed 50 full-time officers on the street in
downtown Los Angeles who were charged with breaking up homeless encampments, issuing citations, and making arrests. After clearing out specific areas, the officers maintained their presence for 7 days and then moved to other parts of downtown. The LAPD’s intervention was limited to the Central Police Division, which is located in downtown Los Angeles close to Dodger Stadium, the Staples Center, and the Los Angeles Convention Center, whereas four
other adjacent divisions (Northeast, Rampart, Hollenbeck, and Newton) formed the comparison sites that received no official police intervention.
Type of Resource:
Journal
Publication Date:
2010
Volume:
9
Issue:
4
Pages:
841-849
Location:
Los Angeles, United States of America