Jorja Leap, adjunct professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin commented in a Rolling Stone feature about policing and police reform in Los Angeles. The story is focused on an effort in Watts by the LAPD to “make peace with its residents, build faith with its leaders, and break the gangs’ stranglehold on its corners,” by setting up units known as the Community Safety Partnership (CSP). Since it was launched in 2011, CSP has become a transformational power in Los Angeles, according to the story. A UCLA study by Leap, an expert on gangs, was released in 2020 and reported that in the first six years of the program CSP saved an estimated $1 million in taxpayer money in major crimes prevented. “…and that’s just in those three [Watts] developments,” said Leap, adding, “Its effects were so profound, we called on the city to expand it, and to mainstream its methods in the department.”
Adjunct Professor of Social Welfare; Executive Director, Social Justice Partnership; Co-Founder and Director, Watts Leadership Institute
Jorja Leap has been on the faculty UCLA Luskin School Social Welfare Department faculty since 1992 and serves as the...
