Explain the link between police legitimacy and public trust as shown in the scenario.

Competency

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:

• Describe the relationship between societal needs and professional practice

Scenario

You’ve just transferred to the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department). Your supervisor would like you to assess the ongoing policing issues surrounding homelessness through a community policing lens. This complex, long-standing issue needs a more proactive, positive approach.

Directions

Community Plan

You will be creating a written community plan for how your office should move forward in addressing the policing issues surrounding homelessness in Los Angeles from a community policing standpoint. Your plan should focus on the relationship between police legitimacy and public trust, public opinion and procedural justice, community policing, and policing adaptations. For the plan, create a written product with all sections identified that addresses all of the required elements using the Project Three Scenario:

1. Explain the link between police legitimacy and public trust as shown in the scenario. Answer the following questions in your explanation:
   • What issues of public trust arise?
   • What can be done to address issues of public trust?
   • Where is discretion being used?
   • Where could discretion be used more judiciously?
2. Describe how public opinion can be influenced by using procedural justice for addressing the issue of homelessness. Answer the following questions in your description:
   • How can procedural justice create a more positive public opinion about the LAPD’s work with the issues surrounding homelessness?
   • How can police transparency aid the LAPD in this situation?
     1. Address police accountability through transparency to the public.
     2. Address how specific techniques, such as technology usage, may aid the LAPD in this situation.
3. Explain how community policing concepts and principles can be applied to address the issue of homelessness as shown in the scenario.
   • What are the principles of community policing?
   • Why is community policing a valuable approach for today’s problems?
   • How can community policing be applied to the issues surrounding homelessness in Los Angeles?
4. Describe how the professional practice of policing for the LAPD changed in order to address the issue of homelessness in our current time. Answer the following questions in your description:
   • What specific tactics has the LAPD taken in the past?
   • What strategy of policing do these tactics show?

What to Submit

To complete this project, you must submit the following:

Community Plan

Create a 2- to 5-page written community plan for how your office should move forward in addressing the policing issues surrounding homelessness in Los Angeles from a community policing standpoint. The plan should address the rubric criteria listed above: police legitimacy and public trust, public opinion and procedural justice, community policing, and policing adaptations.

Supporting Materials

The following resource(s) may help support your work on the project:

Document: Project Three Scenario PDF
This scenario informs your project by giving background.

Reading: Contested Development: Homeless Property, Police Reform, and Resistance in Skid Row, LA

Reading: The Safer Cities Initiative and the Removal of the Homeless: Reducing Crime or Promoting Gentrification on Los Angeles’ Skid Row

Reading: Law Enforcement Is a Critical Component of the Coordinated Effort to End Homelessness

Reading: Policing the Homeless: One Community’s Strategy