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Description
In the wake of nationwide demonstrations for racial justice prompted by the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and countless other Black individuals, Los Angeles has become a focal point for critical discussions around police and community relations.
StudyLA’s 2020 Police and Community Relations Survey focuses on the attitudes and opinions of adult city of Los Angeles residents toward the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) following this period of nationwide demonstrations. Residents were asked a range of questions to measure public opinion on policing. Specifically, we gauge how residents feel the LAPD is doing with respect to the many facets of its mission: to safeguard the lives and property of the people the LAPD serves, to reduce the incidence and fear of crime, and to enhance public safety while working with the diverse communities to improve quality of life.
About This Study
In Fall 2020, StudyLA conducted the 2020 Police and Community Relations Survey to measure public opinion on policing in Los Angeles, asking about topics such as trust in the police, community engagement efforts by the police, race relations, and personal experiences with the police.
To develop questions and select themes that reflected the interests of residents, StudyLA held focus groups and one-onone conversations with 99 individuals from a variety of backgrounds, from activism to academia, non-profit organizations to neighborhood councils.
The survey involved 20-minute telephone interviews, online surveys, and face-to-face interviews with 1,753 adults living in the city of Los Angeles. A minimum of 400 residents from each of the four LAPD command areas, referred to as bureaus (see map), were surveyed. Data collection took place from August 31 to October 25, 2020. The survey was administered in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean. The margin of error for the entire sample is ±2.5%. More on the methodology for this study can be found in the data brief, available at LMU.edu/studyLA.
About This Report
This report presents toplines (total responses for each question) and crosstabs (all questions crossed by major demographics) pertaining to substantive questions.
All questions were asked of the entire sample (n=1,753) except for the three questions on the most impactful experience with the LAPD. These questions were only asked of respondents who indicated that they had previous experiences with the LAPD (n=1,127).
The survey also had three open-ended questions, allowing respondents to put their thoughts into their own words. The answers were thematically coded by StudyLA researchers to create categories, and a question could be coded by multiple categories. Thus, the sum of response categories may not add up to 100.0% on the charts for open-ended questions. If a respondent’s answer was off-topic and did not address the question, it was coded as “Not a response” and not included in further analysis. Additionally, only openended responses that were mentioned by at least 8.0% are included in the crosstabs.
Publication Date
2020
Disciplines
Political Science
Recommended Citation for Report
Guerra, Fernando; Gilbert, Brianne; Vizireanu, Mariya; Dunsker, Max; & Alarcon, Alejandra (2020). Public Opinion on Policing in Los Angeles. Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California.