Abstract
Max Felker-Kantor’s Policing Los Angeles: Race, Resistance, and the Rise of the LAPD provides a historical account of the expansive power of the police during the War on Crime and War on Drugs era. The author is currently an assistant professor at Ball State University whose research primarily focuses on race, politics, and social movements. Felkor-Kantor’s argument extends beyond institutional racism and unfettering police power, to reveal the role of anti-police abuse social movements in the 1960s and beyond. The following review of Policing Los Angeles aims to provide a detailed summary as well as some weaknesses and strengths. Grounded in theory, Felker-Kantor explains how a politicized police department hid behind the guise of utilitarianism and procedural justice to create a para-militaristic and punitive model of policing after the Watts riots. Further, he explains how the response by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) gave renewed vigor to socially constructed racial inequalities leading to containment, suppression, and othering of Black and Brown communities. In an effort to create liberal policies, politicians and local officials incorporated diversion and rehabilitation programs along with more punitive methods such as incarceration. However, this racialized system rather assisted the divide as Whites were given social services, whereas Black and Brown individuals continued to be surveilled and incarcerated.
Other efforts to appease communities of color came from LAPD’s attempts to integrate trainings and hire along more diverse lines, rather than address the reality in the imbalance of power between minorities and law enforcement. Continued disregard for Black and Brown lives compelled members of these communities to create social justice movements as a means to embolden accountability. However, Kelkor-Kantor explains that LAPD responded to these movements by labeling them as terrorists and a dangerous threat to public safety, further strengthening their model of repressive policing. Instead of treating Angelenos as experiencing rapid economic growth, plagued with poverty and disadvantage, LAPD surveilled and criminalized Black and Brown communities, further eroding trust and legitimacy, while claiming to protect it.
Although Felkor-Kantor uses archival data as well as information from anti-police abuse organizations and local newspapers to showcase severe racial disparities, the scope of the data that he provides is limited. The author filed a California Public Records Act request, which LAPD promptly denied. Years later, a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) helped facilitate the opening of LAPD’s official historical records, but it came at a time when the book was getting ready to be published, so information from those records is not presented in the reading. Had LAPD been transparent with their records, the narrative could have presented a much more holistic picture, allowing Felkor-Kantor to more successfully explain how the police solidified power amid riots and share how politics shaped the police force in Los Angeles, with higher ups using official guidelines and laws to not only criminalize Black and Brown communities but also anyone speaking out against police brutality. However, lack of access to compelling data is not a new phenomenon. It is a persistent problem when it comes to studying racial disparities and often used to undermine the individual’s arguments. Even though the book may have lacked official LAPD records, Felkor-Kantor’s exhaustive attempt to include archival and qualitative data gave significant credibility to his argument.
Furthermore, Felkor-Kantor’s analysis that social justice movements at the time were birthed as a result of LAPD’s de facto reign was one of the book’s biggest strengths. Although there were different movements representing a diverse array of individuals, the underlying message for all of them was the same: stop police abuse. However, Felkor-Kantor explains that the response from both federal and local law enforcement was to intensely surveil each movement in an attempt to push them to become more of a vigilante organization, so that LAPD could successfully infiltrate and repress the message being emphasized. Likewise, it appears as though the 1960s–1990s foreshadowed today’s unsettling social and political climate. The book explains how social movements like the Black Panthers, born in response to police brutality, had objectives meant to provide accountability and oversight for the police through close following and monitoring of officers’ behavior. However, Felkor-Kantor states that LAPD, along with Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) infamous counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO), depicted these organizations as vigilantes and often reduced their mission to outlaws in need of suppression. Within that context, today’s Black Lives Matter movement faces a similar fate.
This movement, much like the Black Panthers, encourages individuals to monitor officer actions through video footage to expose police abuse and use of force. Yet, in recent years and under the Trump administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation created a new label called “Black Identity Extremists,” seemingly reserved for activists who have chosen to align themselves with the Black Lives Matter movement. Although the means through which organizations then versus now expose police abuse with vary, the message and their later criminalization has been quite similar. The portrayal of activists whose mission involves uncovering police brutality as criminals is not a new concept. This, along with rekindled fears about other minorities, has led to another era focused on get-tough policies that further contribute to institutional racism and perpetuate the “us” versus “them” divide. Evidently, Felkor-Kantor’s discussion about race and the rise of social movements in Los Angeles at the time continue to reflect current debates about inclusion and citizenship.
Overall, Policing Los Angeles is an eloquently written book that provides evidence to showcase how a politicized department can alienate and destroy trust and legitimacy by enforcing a racial hierarchy under a para-militaristic and punitive model. This book should be a must read for all college students to help contribute to their understanding of law and society. Particularly, it is recommended for those interested in discussions revolving around race, justice, and politics. Felkor-Kantor’s book is a somber reminder that people of color, especially Black individuals, cannot back down in the fight against abuse and systemic racism. In fact, all Americans need to come together to confront the past, support strong social justice movements, and advocate for criminal justice reform.