Professor Alan Nissel Quoted in "L.A.'s Arms Race of the Affluent" -- Los Angeles Magazine

Professor Alan Nissel is quoted in the Los Angeles Magazine article, "L.A.'s Arms Race of the Affluent." The article considers the recent increase in firearm sales and security services in local cities.

Excerpt from "L.A.'s Arms Race of the Affluent"

While supplementing police with private security can have an impact in smaller cities like Beverly Hills, it’s less practical in Los Angeles, which “has way too few police officers,” says Alan Nissel, an assistant professor of law at Pepperdine University and the principal at the Wilshire Skyline property management and development firm. “Many of our residents are petrified,” he says of the company’s high-end apartment buildings and short-term residences, which stretch from Hollywood to Beverly Hills and Malibu. A manager at one of his Santa Monica buildings was recently held up at knifepoint. “Every single building that we manage has had private security services provided because of upticks, and we’ve never used private security firms in the past.”

On Nissel’s street in West L.A., a number of WhatsApp neighborhood watch groups have agreed to collaborate in the event of civil unrest. “They designate people to block the streets with private cars and surveil the streets,” Nissel says. Some of his most progressive colleagues are arming themselves, including many who “never held a weapon, never considered holding a weapon, but now feel like it would be irresponsible not to.”

The article may be found at Los Angeles Magazine