The riots shook up much of the police department and the city's leadership. The demographics of this vast area are changing, with a significant increase in the Latino population and a lesser increase of Asians. While the promised corporate investment in rebuilding South Central failed to materialize, small businesses have led an economic resurgence as Southern California has emerged from its worst economic downturn since the Depression. My interviews with persons of all races and ethnic groups suggest that relationships between the LAPD and South Central residents have significantly improved, although they are far from ideal. African Americans have told me that police hassling of black males has declined.
Police officers say they are receiving increased cooperation in minority communities.
Because of community policing, an essential recommendation of the Christopher Commission that investigated the LAPD after the Rodney King beating, residents throughout the city have more routine contact with the LAPD, which is desirable. At the urging of Mayor Richard Riordan and Police Chiefs Willie Williams and Bernard Parks, the LAPD has added 2,000 officers, making community policing possible. LAPD training has improved, both in martial arts training to subdue resistant suspects without harming them and in diversity training. Chief Parks, a 30-year LAPD veteran and an African American, has provided strong leadership of the department. Civil disorders occurred in a number of cities in protest to the verdicts in Simi Valley in which three officers accused of using excessive force against Mr. King were acquitted and another officer acquitted of all but one charge.