In the spring of 2020, following the death of George Floyd, tensions between police and the community reached a boiling point.

[Emada]: The frustration that everyone is feeling ac ross this country as it relates to the relationship between community and police is real.

Ba ck in 2011, the LAPD endorsed a pilot program called Community Safety Partnership or "CSP."

It's a new model for policing whose time may finally have come Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides leads the initiative.

How did you get into this line of work?

Tell us your story.

I grew up in Watts, in south Los Angeles.

I knew that I needed to command the relationship between law enforcement and the community.

When this program started, we saw a reduction in arrests with our juvenile offenders and we saw an increase in referring them to different resources within the community and once we started listening and understanding that sometimes apologizing for things that happened in the community and we were able to work along- side each other.

I'm so thankful that I came to the CSP program at Nickerson because I used to work in 77th, where you work hard and you're policing, but I think seeing a whole other side to this community policing and getting out to know the community brings me a lot of joy when we teach them to be proud of themselves, not just do things just for us to be proud of them.

But to see her see that transformation where them becoming leaders.

We're constantly re-evaluating ourselves to meet the needs of the community Ho wever, we have to have our mental health institutions, our justice system, also realign themselves.

I think what excites me is the power of the relationships that are built.

And how much those relationships can make change in a community.

For more information, please go to our website.

For PBS SoCal, I'm Bonnie Boswell.