Residents of the city of Los Angeles give LAPD favorable marks for its performance but still see disparities in how different ethnic groups are treated by police, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.
One striking data point: two-thirds of those surveyed say they believe the LAPD profiles Black residents based on race. That said, residents are more likely now than two years ago to view LAPD favorably in many issues of policing. They also support reforms like reallocating some police funding to social and mental health resources.
Those surveyed said the department’s performance was “very good” or “good” across most categories, including maintaining public safety (69 percent), treating the community with respect (71 percent), responding with an appropriate number of officers (66 percent) and listening to the needs of the community (62 percent). Less than half of respondents (47 percent) said officers are good at responding to mental health crises.
“Even with the improvement in public sentiment toward the police department over the last two years, Angelenos still believe that there are differences in the interactions between the LAPD and different racial and ethnic groups,” said Fernando Guerra, professor of political science and Chicana/o and Latina/o studies at LMU and director of the center. “This issue continues to be a longstanding challenge for the department.”
Most respondents still back the idea of police playing a less prominent role in handling certain calls. According to the survey, Los Angeles residents would rather mental health crises, sexual assaults, domestic violence, substance abuse, homelessness, or disputes between neighbors be handled by LAPD officers paired with “non-police alternatives” like social workers or community outreach specialists.
Respondents were asked about their experience with LAPD officers; 41 percent said those encounters were “mostly positive,” down from 47 percent in 2020. However, 58 percent of those surveyed said they trust LAPD to “do what is right” most of the time, up from 51 percent two years ago.
“While there are still areas of friction, Angelenos today are more likely to have positive things to say about the police department than in our previous survey,” said Brianne Gilbert, managing director of StudyLA. “It may be that now, two years after high-profile protests and national discussion around police violence, public opinion no longer reflects shock and disbelief.”
StudyLA researchers conducted focus groups and interviews with community stakeholders to develop the survey questions prior to launching the survey, like what was done for the 2020 survey.
The survey was conducted by telephone, online, and in face-to-face sessions between March 24 and June 3, to which 1,755 city of Los Angeles residents responded. It was translated and administered in Spanish, Mandarin and Korean, in addition to English. The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percent.
The full report can be found here.