South Park community leader says she's grown to embrace police as 'family:' 'They made me understand the job'

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Laura Ingraham explores gang violence, rampant crime in California neighborhoods

Fox Nation's 'California on the Edge with Laura Ingraham' explores the decline of communities grappling with homelessness, violence, and crime with the help of local law enforcement.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham traveled to the Golden State in a new episode of Fox Nation's "California on the Edge," where she spent time with local law enforcement to discuss homelessness, drug abuse, crime, and gang recruitment that has crippled communities across the city.

Ingraham toured the South Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, which has garnered a reputation for its troubling rate of shootings, drug use, stabbings, prostitution, and gang violence.

The host met with LAPD officer Sgt. Ronald Kingi, who introduced a Community Safety Partnership in the neighborhood focused on bringing a community-centered approach toward a violence reduction strategy. 

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"I grew up in this neighborhood and… there's a lot of poverty, a lot of gang crime and I wanted to be a symbol of structure for the children because that's where I see it's messed up from the beginning," Kingi told Ingraham.

The sergeant introduced Ingraham to Mrs. Maryline Green, known locally as "the neighborhood matriarch." Green admitted that while she's not generally fond of law enforcement, she has grown to embrace those protecting her community as "family."

"There was a lot that needed to be done," she said. "They came here, we've fixed a lot. My grandbabies, now I let them out of the house without me being there because I know the police is [sic] there so I don't have to worry," she explained.

A stolen vehicle suspect was tackled by Los Angeles police officers Wednesday.  (Los Angeles Police Department )

"It took a while but it's like we're family. I don't look at them like they're the police…I don't like the police but these police [officers] here, they made me understand their job," Green added. "My job is to make sure they don't hurt anybody in this community and their job is to make sure nobody hurts each other."

Kingi later took Ingraham for a ride-along in his cruiser, where he pointed out a teen they passed on the street who recently joined a local gang.

"I've known this kid for a long time, since he was little," Kingi said. " He recently joined a gang…I've already arrested him for stuff."

Emergency responders respond to a fire at the house of the suspect of a shooting, after nine people were reported dead including the shooter on May 26, 2021 at the San Jose Railyard in San Jose, California. - Multiple people were killed in a shooting Wednesday at a rail yard in California's Bay Area, police said, the latest instance of deadly gun violence in the United States. "I can't confirm the exact number of injuries and fatalities. But I will tell you that there are multiple injuries and multiple fatalities in this case," Russell Davis, a Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy, told journalists, adding that the gunman was dead. (Photo by Amy Osborne / AFP) (Photo by AMY OSBORNE/AFP via Getty Images)

Kingi introduced the Fox News host to the young gang member, who was visibly "high," Ingraham observed.

"Don't get sucked in," she told him. "Don't do it. You're better than that. No one ever tells you that, you have a big future, it's not in the gang. You'll end up dead or in jail. You're better. Hold yourself out for something better." 

To watch the full episode and for more from Ingraham as she explores the plight of communities across the U.S. visit Fox Nation and watch "California on the Edge" today.

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