The White House Blog

Captain Phillip C. Tingirides is joining the First Lady as a guest at the 2015 State of the Union Address on January 20. Watch it live at 9 p.m. Eastern at WH.gov/SOTU.

Captain Phillip C. Tingirides

Once a hotbed of crime since its eponymous race riots of 1965 and a surge of gang violence in the 1990s, the Watts neighborhood of South Los Angeles has seen a 50 percent reduction in violent crime in recent years.

That's thanks in large part to the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) -- a program that Captain Phillip C. Tingirides, a 35-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, is spearheading. The CSP facilitates cooperation between the police department and Watts housing development residents scarred from decades of distrust -- including encouraging dialogue at community meetings with police who personally engage with residents.

Captain Tingirides and his wife, LAPD Sergeant Emada Tingirides -- who serves as LAPD coordinator of the CSP program, have six children together.

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