UC Riverside

Since the May 25th, 2020, murder of George Floyd there has been a worldwide rebellion against anti-Black racism and policing. The movement for Black lives has opened up much-needed space to investigate and broaden the study of racialized policing to other communities. In assessing attitudes of Latinos towards law enforcement, previous studies have found that the racial oppression that exists between Latinos and White officers is exacerbated by Latino fear of deportation and procedural unfairness (McClusky et al., 2008; Messing et al., 2015). Latino perceptions of police performance have been poor since the Garner v. Tennessee (1985) decision. Noting that the prevailing rule here in the U.S. has been that the use of lethal force is justified in apprehending felons is outdated. The Supreme Court held that a police officer is authorized to shoot at a fleeing felon only when the officer believes that the escapee poses a threat to the officer or the safety of others (1985). This precedent-setting case is utilized by police as a means of sanctioning the use of deadly force when an imminent threat occurs and has led to an increase in officer-involved shootings (Katz, 2015).This dissertation is a nontraditional approach in book style, which is based on participants observations and a historical narrative. It examines racially biased policing in Latino communities, police use of lethal force from 1942 to 2005, and a police initiative aimed at quelling conflict between barrio residents and the police. This is an autoethnography approach, in which newspaper stories, television news, collected emails, and working notes were collected over the years. I aim to extend Erving Goffman’s description within dramaturgy using an autoethnographic approach to illustrate police performance and community responses. It is through this performance that I attempt to develop the concept of holistic policing, in which officers’ behaviors are embedded within a whole community model. The findings from this examination could lead to mutual contributions from law enforcement and the community to improve on policing methods that develop trust. Pseudonyms are used throughout most of the dissertation.