A police helicopter hovers above a high school in South LA in late August. 2012.

In this photo, you’ll see a helicopter hovering in South Los Angeles, right above a high school. It’s an LA Police Department copter, and as I learned from some mothers sitting on the bleachers at a soccer field nearby, it’s not an unusual sight in South LA.

I was startled at it, but they just shrugged. Someone said there must have been gunfire at the high school, and it’s safer for police to intervene from overhead. It happens all the time, one of the women said.

So that’s part of life in South LA. In Beverly Hills, Santa Monica or Malibu, a police helicopter circling over a high school would surely make the newspapers and generate alarm. But, in a stark portrayal of the different worlds so nearby, there wasn’t a mention in a local daily and the people on the soccer field largely ignored it.