Far-left Los Angeles politicians are plotting a takeover of the LAPD that would give them control over the way the city is policed, The California Post can reveal.
Activists from the Democratic Socialists of America are pushing to snatch control of the country’s third-largest police force in a major threat to the city’s law and order.
The scheme, uncovered by The Post, would shift power to the City Council and away from Karen Bass and the LA Board of Police Commissioners.
It would include drastic changes to LAPD operations, from stopping officers from working with ICE agents, ban what they called “pretextual traffic stops of black and brown people” and restrict the use of tear gas at protests.
The plan, hatched by socialist councimembers, aims to change how many officers are hired, how resources are deployed, what tactics are allowed, and how the department’s multibillion-dollar budget is spent.
The police union has slammed the move saying it would “de-police’’ Los Angeles.
“The last thing Los Angeles needs is for the DSA-LA clown car to crash into the LAPD so the defund and abolish the police passengers can spill out and start enacting their de-policing agenda,” LAPD union spokesman Tom Saggau told The Post.
“What they have proposed is not reform, but the elimination of civilian oversight of the LAPD, which is the scary reality of their true intentions.”
The plan started to take shape after a key vote at the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission several months ago.
Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez asked the 13-member panel to rewrite the city charter, essentially the city’s constitution, so lawmakers could override the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners.
The plan is being driven by some of City Hall’s most hardline, extreme councilmembers including Eunisses Hernandez.
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez has repeatedly voted against police funding increases, pushed to siphon money out of the LAPD, and even backed efforts to disarm officers inside City Hall.
Hugo Soto-Martínez and mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman have opposed boosting the department’s budget and pushed to shrink its role, while Ysabel Jurado was caught on tape just weeks before taking office saying “f— the police.”
But the move could also pave the way for far more consequential changes, such as how many officers there are and what the department’s budget is.
View this post on Instagram 5 Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez is among council member who want to want to meddle in the way cops can act on a daily basis. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 5 LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell speaking at a press conference about Los Angeles crime data. Carlin Stiehl for California Post In practical terms, it would shift power from an appointed oversight body to elected politicians, opening the door to faster and more sweeping changes to staffing levels, funding priorities, and policing strategy across Los Angeles.
Pro-police lawmakers and cops are angry and terrified by the “Trojan horse” attempt, saying it could destroy the police force in a city that already has a crime and rioting crisis.
When Soto-Martinez sent a formal letter to the Charter Commission in December, he called for the City Council to have overriding authority of the Police Commission over cops.
He said he wanted to throw his weight behind new requirements for Inspector General Audits, protect protests, ensure First Amendment right protections and to allow the chief of police to remove officers with repeated histories of harm.
The board met on March 24, with one commissioner saying at the meeting: “If council passes an ordinance… that’s it… supersedes the police commission. There is no additional process.”
The motion was passed, marking the first green light the DSA needed to seize control of the city’s officers. But the meeting showed some were worried.
“This is materially and substantially different,” one warned, noting the shift would hand near-total authority to elected officials without the previous backstop of the Police Commission.
Following the changes, the DSA members were open about their plans, with Soto-Martinez writing on social media: “Our proposal is simple: Give City Council the ability to set LAPD policy through laws — just like we can for every other issue in the city.
“Commissions conduct civilian oversight. Elected representatives write laws.” He later added: “City Council doesn’t currently have the power to set LAPD policy, but that could soon change thanks to a the Charter Commission.”
The proposals have scared cops on the ground, with officers telling The Post the DSA will prioritize politics over policing. “They’re trying to please the radical left and the left-leaning media,” an officer said.
The officer warned the DSA members were not educated on police policy or conducting oversight, adding: “It’s going to cause a lot of issues.”
The DSA members’ plans also do not stop at police policy, with them also trying to reshape how the LAPD’s money is tracked.
Hernandez and Soto-Martinez backed a plan to strip key auditing and accounting functions from the LAPD and hand them to the office of activist LA controller Kenneth Mejia.
The measure would create a new “Bureau of Police Oversight” inside the Controller’s Audit Services Division, giving Mejia expanded authority to scrutinize LAPD spending and operations.
The rollout would happen in phases — building staffing, setting priorities, and launching deeper probes into the department under the banner of transparency.
The DSA members’ power grab plans will go before the entire City Council. It will then have to go to the the November ballot, where voters would have the final say.
The Post reached out to Mayor Karen Bass, the council members and the Police Commission for comment.
The DSA-backed power grab is headed to the full City Council. If approved by council, it would then head to the November ballot, where voters will have the final say.
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