UC Irvine

The present dissertation examines the collateral consequences of proactive policing strategies, using the Los Angeles Police Department’s Operation L.A.S.E.R. as a case study. Rather than evaluating the program solely as a crime-control strategy, this dissertation asks how the intervention affected crime, educational outcomes, and neighborhood desirability in Los Angeles. The introductory chapter traces its development, expansion, criticism, and termination. Chapter 1 evaluates whether the 2015 expansion reduced crime without displacement into adjacent, non-treated census blocks. Division-, zone-, and block-level analyses find mixed evidence of crime reduction and little evidence of displacement. Chapter 2 examines whether exposure to Operation L.A.S.E.R. was associated with changes in assessment scores among Los Angeles Unified School District high school students. Active exposure was associated with lower assessment scores in nearly every all-student and student-subgroup analysis, though no association was statistically significant at conventional levels. Lastly, Chapter 3 examines neighborhood desirability through single-family home sale prices. Treatment was concentrated in Hispanic-majority, renter-heavy neighborhoods and associated with higher logged sale prices. Pooled officer-presence estimates were positive, though not statistically significant at conventional levels, and higher sale prices did not coincide with rapid demographic turnover.