“Community Policing and the New Immigrants: Latinos in Chicago” In Martha King
(ed.), Justice and Safety in America’s Immigrant Communities. Princeton University:
Policy Research Institute for the Region, 2006, 43-64.
This paper examines the fate of the city’s large and growing Latino population. The research was conducted
as part of an evaluation of Chicago's community policing program. The Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy
(CAPS) features extensive community involvement, an orientation toward problem-solving that emphasizes
collaboration between police and other city service agencies, and organizational decentralization. The
program has registered many successes, especially among African-Americans. Crime, social disorder,
physical decay, and fear improved substantially during the course of the 1990s in predominately African-
American neighborhoods. Their involvement in the program has been extensive, and black Chicagoans are
CAPS' biggest boosters.
However, the program has not made much headway among Latinos, and by many measures they lost ground
during this period. Surveys and analyses of archival and Census data indicate that things have been getting
worse, not better, for Chicago's Latinos, especially among the burgeoning immigrant population. Our surveys
and field work reveal that the expectations that Latino newcomers bring with them are twofold – that the police
are corrupt and potentially abusive. Latinos are also under-represented in CAPS Our surveys find that Latinos
are least aware of the CAPS program and of beat meetings, and their awareness has been falling since the
late 1990s. Latinos report facing distinctive neighborhood problems as well, and those problems are
perceived as growing worse rather than better. By many measures things got better in Chicago for other
groups. To generalize, whites began with few serious concerns, but things got a bit better for them. African-
Americans began with many serious problems, but they reported substantial improvements in neighborhood
conditions over time. The city's Latinos, on the other hand, began with serious problems and saw little
improvement over the course of a decade. By 2003, whites and African-Americans were in the most
agreement about improvements in their neighborhoods – although blacks certainly still had a way to go before
they could claim parity. Not much improved for Latinos, and in their eyes some problems even grew worse.
(ed.), Justice and Safety in America’s Immigrant Communities. Princeton University:
Policy Research Institute for the Region, 2006, 43-64.
This paper examines the fate of the city’s large and growing Latino population. The research was conducted
as part of an evaluation of Chicago's community policing program. The Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy
(CAPS) features extensive community involvement, an orientation toward problem-solving that emphasizes
collaboration between police and other city service agencies, and organizational decentralization. The
program has registered many successes, especially among African-Americans. Crime, social disorder,
physical decay, and fear improved substantially during the course of the 1990s in predominately African-
American neighborhoods. Their involvement in the program has been extensive, and black Chicagoans are
CAPS' biggest boosters.
However, the program has not made much headway among Latinos, and by many measures they lost ground
during this period. Surveys and analyses of archival and Census data indicate that things have been getting
worse, not better, for Chicago's Latinos, especially among the burgeoning immigrant population. Our surveys
and field work reveal that the expectations that Latino newcomers bring with them are twofold – that the police
are corrupt and potentially abusive. Latinos are also under-represented in CAPS Our surveys find that Latinos
are least aware of the CAPS program and of beat meetings, and their awareness has been falling since the
late 1990s. Latinos report facing distinctive neighborhood problems as well, and those problems are
perceived as growing worse rather than better. By many measures things got better in Chicago for other
groups. To generalize, whites began with few serious concerns, but things got a bit better for them. African-
Americans began with many serious problems, but they reported substantial improvements in neighborhood
conditions over time. The city's Latinos, on the other hand, began with serious problems and saw little
improvement over the course of a decade. By 2003, whites and African-Americans were in the most
agreement about improvements in their neighborhoods – although blacks certainly still had a way to go before
they could claim parity. Not much improved for Latinos, and in their eyes some problems even grew worse.
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