In this, Coatesville's story is similar to those of other small, economically struggling towns in the Philadelphia region.
Undermanned, confronted with serious crime and dwindling resources, the largely white police forces in these cities fought back with blunt tactics to clear streets of drug dealers and idle teenagers.
The Coatesvivlle sweeps, aimed mainly at the black east side, inevitably snared many innocent people with the bad guys.
Two years ago, though, this long-frozen standoff began to crack. The town's growing African American population flexed its muscle and helped elect a new City Council, with a 5-2 black majority.
Simmering resentment about the years of tough policing exploded, with angry shouting matches at town hall.
Soon, the white police chief was gone, replaced by William H. Matthews, 61, an African American former street cop who had spent the last decade in a Washington think tank.
He arrived in the spring, bursting with optimism and reform ideas. He declared a new day in this town of 11,000, with a retooled crime-fighting strategy built on strong links to neighborhoods.
The tough streets of Coatesville are now a kind of laboratory, testing Matthews' theories of police work against the hard realities of history and crime, poverty and small-town politics. The outcome of the experiment is still in doubt.
'Why are you here?'
Ask Matthews to talk about policing and he sounds like a professor, rolling out his well-researched ideas with the ease of a polished public speaker.
Ask him about being a black man in America, and there's a flash of emotion.
