Residents Play Cop, Criminal to Get to Know How Police Work

Gatherings of residents and police officers the last four Thursdays at a Watts housing project have been part community theater, part education and part diplomatic detente.

They have turned the Jordan Downs Community Center into an urban playhouse. Residents take turns playing the role of officers, suspects, grieving relatives and even angry crowds. They yell, they scream, they taunt, they grab, they run.

“It was fun. But I also feel like I understand the police a lot more after this,” said 20-year-old Porsha George, who lives at Jordan Downs Public Housing.

LAPD hopes the first Neighborhood Police Academy fosters understanding between residents at Jordan Downs and two other housing complexes and police after a summer marred by clashes between them.

In a one-week stretch, seven officers were injured during incidents with rapidly growing crowds at Jordan Downs, Nickerson Gardens and Imperial Courts in southeast Los Angeles. Police said some officers were beaten.

“This just couldn’t keep happening,” said Capt. Patrick Gannon of the Southeast station. “There was a real need for understanding.”

The five-session academy was launched to lessen tensions and help police gain residents’ trust. The skits were to give residents insight into how officers do their jobs.

The fifth and final meeting will be Thursday.

Understanding and empathy between police and Watts residents has been a work in progress going back to the 1965 riots.

The three southeast Los Angeles housing complexes have the highest crime rates in the city, according to police statistics.

With about 2,000 residents, Jordan Downs is smaller than the 3,000-plus Nickerson Gardens, but is where the most violence occurs, police said.

Residents at the complexes said fear sometimes keeps them from reporting what they see. Talk to the police too openly, and “you’re putting your life in jeopardy,” said Irma Friend, who lives at Jordan Downs.

The genesis of the Neighborhood Police Academy came after an Aug. 17 town hall meeting at the Jordan Downs gymnasium, attended by police--including Chief Bernard C. Parks--and about 100 residents.

After that meeting, Gannon increased foot patrols. The Southeast station also brought in horseback units.

“These were never really used in the housing developments,” Gannon said. “It’s nice for community relations. . . . They get a lot of enforcement done, but people also interact with them more.”

Gannon said he realized there was much to overcome, but he hopes the academy is a good start.

“Do we do things right all the time? Of course not,” Gannon told residents. “We make mistakes, and it comes to haunt us. But who it really haunts is you. We need to bring back the trust.”

Tensions do seem to have ebbed, residents and police say, but it’s probably too early to determine why.

During the Neighborhood Police Academy meetings, police officers gave presentations and answered questions. Detectives explained that bodies cannot be removed until coroner’s office arrives, which sometimes may take hours--something many residents perceive as disrespectful. People, including family members of victims, are kept away from a crime scene to keep evidence undisturbed, they said.

Thirty to 50 residents have attended the weekly meetings since they started Oct 18.

Jordan Down resident Virginia Burns, 70, who has been at all the meetings, said people shouldn’t hate police.

“That’s very stupid. We need the police. If not for them, who would protect us?” she said.

The academy’s most popular feature was the role-playing exercises. During one skit, resident Denise Lynch portrayed a police officer, while another resident played a grieving mother, who busts through the crime scene tape, frightening Lynch.

Other housing developments have expressed interest in the academy, said Hugo Garcia, a spokesman for the Housing Authority. Nickerson Gardens is the next venue, with dates to be determined, Gannon said.

For George the meetings “help the community” and further understanding between police and residents. But she also thought they were fun.

“Ooh! I can’t wait for next week,” she said. “I wish it wasn’t going to end. I’m going to miss it. It’s too bad it isn’t longer than five weeks.”