Police politics infuse LA mayor’s race

The Los Angeles Police Department has become a major issue in the race for L.A. mayor, with the fate of Chief Jim McDonnell at the center of the debate between the candidates.

Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is challenging incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, has called for the chief’s removal, saying his department was too cooperative with federal immigration agents during last year’s protests over raids.

“I believe he’s lost the trust of Angelenos, especially in light of the ICE raids,” Raman said at a debate earlier this month.

Bass has backed McDonnell, whom she appointed in 2024, saying removing a chief so close to the 2028 Olympics would send the department into "disarray." She also points out crime is down across the city, mirroring crime trends nationwide.

"I don’t think you have any idea what it takes to remove a police chief," Bass said to Raman during the debate.

So what does it take to remove a police chief?

Here’s a closer look at L.A.’s famously contentious history with police leadership in the past and how that has resurfaced in the lead up to the current election.

Mayoral power to remove a chief

The police chief is among the most visible and powerful figures in city government, overseeing 8,500 officers and a budget of more than $3.5 million dollars — a figure that amounts to more than half the city’s general fund.

Technically, a mayor can’t unilaterally oust a police chief. Only the Police Commission can do that. But the mayor appoints the five-member panel and therefore has a great deal of influence on that decision.

Mayors can always appoint commissioners who bend to their will.

An ousted chief may appeal to the City Council, but would need the support of two-thirds of its members to be reinstated.

Raphe Sonenshein, executive director of the Haynes Foundation — a group dedicated to effective governance in L.A., said it used to be nearly impossible to remove a police chief in the city of Los Angeles.

L.A.’s police chief once enjoyed civil service protection, a strong shield against termination, and was practically the most powerful political figure in the city, Sonenshein said. Removal “was almost a forbidden topic.”

“The police chief stayed as long as the police chief wanted to stay,” Sonenshein said.

Several major events in the 1990s changed that, including the 1991 beating of Rodney King, which followed years of complaints by Black and Latino residents of police abuse.

After the King beating, then-Mayor Tom Bradley called for then-Police Chief Daryl Gates to step down, but Gates refused to do so. Four police officers seen in video of the King beating were charged with felony assault and other charges, but were later acquitted on nearly all counts.

In the wake of verdict and the riots that followed, voters approved Proposition F, stripping police chiefs of civil service protection and creating a five-year term limit, subject to one five-year extension.

The 1992 riots prompted liberal L.A. to elect a conservative millionaire businessman Richard Riordan as mayor the following year.

Daryl Gates controversy

Earlier this month, Raman praised Gates for his policy of prohibiting officers from asking people about their immigration status. She called it the “gold standard” on police not cooperating with federal immigration agents

Bass said the comment showed Raman was out of touch with the history of L.A. and the role of Gates, a polarizing figure whose department often brutalized Black and brown communities.

Raman has since apologized. “I apologize for talking about an issue that I know causes real pain to Angelenos,” said Raman on the Yesi Ortiz podcast. She also apologized on CNN.

McDonnell, has defended his officers’ response to ICE protests, saying demonstrators threw rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails at them, necessitating the use of tear gas. He has called his officers’ actions “heroic.”

Robb Korinke, who runs the political consultancy group Grassrootslab, said opposing McDonnell fits in with an "anti-establishment"-bent in this election.

“I don't think anyone is safe, whether you're an incumbent, elected or figurehead of a major city department,” he said.

On Monday, as the mayoral debate heated up, billionaire developer Rick Caruso said that he’s voting for Bass for mayor. Caruso, who lost to Bass four years ago by 10 percentage points, said he believed Bass had learned from her mistakes and that she had grown into the job.

Caruso also said he had "serious concerns" about Raman, particularly her desire to remove McDonnell. 

Caruso said this is no time to turn the LAPD "into a laboratory for risking experimentation" by the Democratic Socialists of America, which has endorsed Raman.

Politics of policing have changed

Proposition F changed police politics in Los Angeles. But there were other factors as well, including a change in the election schedule.

L.A.’s switch from holding elections during off-years to during presidential and midterm years dramatically increased the number of voters who participated in city elections.

The electorate is much bigger, younger and more liberal, Korinke said.

“Until a few years ago, the city of Los Angeles held elections in odd years, meaning there was extremely low voter turnout, sometimes as low as in the high teens,” he said, adding that races were decided by more suburban parts of the city with mostly white voters.

“The politics of policing specifically have changed a lot from an environment that was very favorable to policing historically,” Korinke said.

He also explained that progressive voters have taken a greater interest in local issues in recent years, and police reform has become a big focus.

"The voting populace is a little just a little bit more skeptical of the expense that goes along with policing,” he said.

It's one reason police union spending on political races has become less potent in recent years.

Together with the firefighters union, the police union spent more than $1 million in an effort to defeat Raman’s reelection bid to the City Council two years ago. Raman narrowly won the race.

This year, the union is spending nearly $2.8 million to defeat Raman and elect Bass as mayor.

Bass approved big pay raises for officers in 2023. Raman voted against them, saying the money should be spent in other areas like parks and streetlight repair.