Police and the Reclamation of Public Places: A Study of MacArthur Park in Los Angeles

Abstract

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, MacArthur Park — a 40-acre public park located near downtown Los Angeles — was widely known to be one of the largest open-air drug markets in Los Angeles. The Alvarado Corridor Initiative, a police-led initiative developed in 2003, was designed to address crime and disorderly behaviour in MacArthur Park through a combination of problem-solving, order-maintenance, and situational crime prevention efforts. This paper assesses the impact of the Alvarado Corridor Initiative using information from interviews and focus groups with neighbourhood residents, business-people, police officers, and other individuals familiar with MacArthur Park. The results suggest that many of the problems in MacArthur Park have been resolved and that the park experienced a turnaround that can be linked to the implementation of the Alvarado Corridor Initiative. In assessing the effectiveness of the Alvarado Corridor Initiative, this paper also provides a commentary on the evolution of public places in the United States and the role that the police can serve in terms of helping to preserve those public places.