May 31--During a time of increased scrutiny of policing and an uptick in crime, Los Angeles County residents offered mixed reviews of local law enforcement in a poll released Tuesday, with the greatest skepticism coming from African Americans.
About half of the 2,425 L.A. County residents polled rated the quality of their police services, along with the conduct and professionalism of officers, as "good," according to the survey's results.
But when African Americans were asked to rate police, the percentages dropped. About a quarter of African Americans polled considered the conduct and professionalism of officers "good." About a third -- 31.5% -- described officers' behavior as "poor." The rest said it was "fair."
When asked how confident they were that police in their communities treated all races equally, just over 42% of the black residents surveyed said they were "not confident," compared with 30% of Latinos polled, 25% of whites and nearly 20% of Asian Americans.
The phone survey, conducted by a team from Loyola Marymount University earlier this year, asked residents a range of questions about public safety in their communities. The results were compiled in a report that was made public Tuesday.
The survey was conducted amid a heated national conversation about how and when police officers use force, particularly against African Americans.
Two-thirds of respondents said they believed most officers only used the amount of force "necessary to accomplish their tasks." The LMU report did not break down those results by race or ethnicity.
The majority of residents polled indicated that they believed their neighborhoods were safe, despite an uptick in crime that continues to plague local police. Though Los Angeles police officials said last week that they are making progress in driving down some crimes across the city, violent crime remains nearly 16% higher than this time last year.
Still, nearly 78% of city of Los Angeles residents polled said they considered their neighborhoods a safe place to live. Nearly 88% of county residents said the same.
The findings also indicated widespread support of body cameras for law enforcement officers. Agencies including the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have begun using the devices.
Over 92% of residents living in the city of Los Angeles said they thought the new technology was a good idea, according to the poll. Almost 91% of county residents agreed.
The LAPD is poised to become the largest law enforcement agency in the nation to use body cameras on a widespread scale, with plans to roll out 7,000 cameras in the coming years. But lingering questions from city lawmakers over the program's implementation and funding have delayed the initiative.
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Fernando Guerra, the director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, said the survey's results gave the public a chance to weigh in on the use of the new technology.
"We hardly ever see that level of support on anything," Guerra said. "The bottom line is residents believe this needs to be done."
Guerra said his team planned to present their findings to several L.A. officials, including those in the mayor's office and the police department. There are also plans in place to repeat the survey in January, he said.
The goal, he said, is to provide a real reaction from L.A. County residents on the public safety issues that often generate fierce debate.
"Everybody has an opinion -- from police commissioners to the police themselves, advocates, etc. But this is what the residents think," Guerra said. "This is really giving voice to the community."
