ABSTRACT
From a practical standpoint, the most valuable information concerns results from the individual analyses that enable a causal reconstruction of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) organizational meltdown. Among the causes that lie outside of the organization, the King incident is believed to be the first event to occur and set the other causes in motion. Under the professional model it is assumed that the police know best how to control crime and enforce the law. During the meltdown, however, LAPD’s top administrators made concessions to community members regarding their ability to provide the department with policy guidance over their enforcement practices—thus violating another essential component of the professional model. In regard to controlling crime, the force multiplier effect refers to the ability of a policing agency to maximize the crime control potential of its officer force by discovering ways to maximize the efficiency of its officers working the streets.
