Last Tuesday March 23rd, the West Athens-Westmont Community Task Force Meeting took place at the Chester Washington Golf Course at 1930 W 120th St. in the southern section of West Athens. This meeting was created to bring the community together with local law enforcement from the LA County Sherriff’s Lennox Station in Inglewood as well as other leaders from local churches, schools and non-profits.
This meeting started off different than the others because the family of a recent victim of gang violence was there to get some answers. Adrian Steele died March 18th after suffering a gun shot wound to his back on 106th Street in Westmont. He was 25 years old and not a known gang member. His family heard about the Task Force meeting through a flyer passed around their neighborhood. They felt like they had not received proper treatment from law enforcement during the handling of the crime scene and subsequent investigation. Deputy Bruce McCall who attends the Task Force meeting regularly was there to provide some answers and an open dialogue for the family to voice their concerns on how the murder was handled. Though Deputy McCall didn’t have all the answers he used the opportunity to show how this kind of dialogue between a victim’s family and law enforcement rarely happens and that the Task Force meeting was providing that open forum.
A Better LA was built on the premise that by giving people a common language that they could then begin to discuss in an open dialogue the problems that plague south Los Angeles. By organizing the Task Force meetings, we hope to create a forum for the West Athens-Westmont community that encourages collaboration with the aim of creating a safe community, promoting education, providing access to services for families and children, access to employment opportunities, and fostering healthy community/police relations. With the participation of Adrian’s family we are able to really start dealing with the issues and creating calls to action for law enforcment and the community.
For more information on Adrian’s story check out the LA Times Homicide Report.
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Last Tuesday March 23rd, the West Athens-Westmont Community Task Force Meeting took place at the Chester Washington Golf Course at 1930 W 120th St. in the southern section of West Athens. This meeting was created to bring the community together with local law enforcement from the LA County Sherriff’s Lennox Station in Inglewood as well as other leaders from local churches, schools and non-profits.
This meeting started off different than the others because the family of a recent victim of gang violence was there to get some answers. Adrian Steele died March 18th after suffering a gun shot wound to his back on 106th Street in Westmont. He was 25 years old and not a known gang member. His family heard about the Task Force meeting through a flyer passed around their neighborhood. They felt like they had not received proper treatment from law enforcement during the handling of the crime scene and subsequent investigation. Deputy Bruce McCall who attends the Task Force meeting regularly was there to provide some answers and an open dialogue for the family to voice their concerns on how the murder was handled. Though Deputy McCall didn’t have all the answers he used the opportunity to show how this kind of dialogue between a victim’s family and law enforcement rarely happens and that the Task Force meeting was providing that open forum.
A Better LA was built on the premise that by giving people a common language that they could then begin to discuss in an open dialogue the problems that plague south Los Angeles. By organizing the Task Force meetings, we hope to create a forum for the West Athens-Westmont community that encourages collaboration with the aim of creating a safe community, promoting education, providing access to services for families and children, access to employment opportunities, and fostering healthy community/police relations. With the participation of Adrian’s family we are able to really start dealing with the issues and creating calls to action for law enforcment and the community.
For more information on Adrian’s story check out the LA Times Homicide Report.