On Tuesday morning, several city council members expressed their frustrations during a council meeting about the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) communication with the public regarding the ongoing ICE raids in Los Angeles, as well as Chief Jim McDonnell’s response to a question about whether or not the LAPD will enforce a state law banning law enforcement officers from wearing face masks in public.
During an LAPD press conference last week, Chief McDonnell described two state laws that were passed by the state legislature in response to the ICE raids—one banning face coverings, the other requiring law enforcement officers to identify themselves—as “not a good public policy decision.”
“The reality of one armed agency approaching another armed agency to create conflict over something that would be a misdemeanor at best, or an infraction. It doesn't make any sense,” McDonnell told reporters. “It's not a good public policy decision, and it wasn't well thought out in my opinion”
During Tuesday’s meeting, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson described the chief’s comments as “disturbing” and “wholly unacceptable.”
“I want to join my colleagues in communicating how disturbing it was to hear that specific message,” Harris-Dawson told a representative of the department during Tuesday’s meeting. “Something like, ‘well, it isn't a smart law, and I don't like it, so we're not doing it.’ That just was way beyond the pale.”
“I want to join the council members from this desk in telling you that that was just wholly unacceptable,” Harris-Dawson said.
Chief McDonnell’s comments came up during a discussion between Deputy Chief Jonathan Pinto and members of city council, related to hiring “a strategic communications” person to “help unify internally” the LAPD’s “messaging.”
“I think the importance of this strategic communications position is that it will help unify internally our messaging so when our officers are out there dealing with the community or dealing with the media, that it's one unified message,” Pinto said after Councilmember Soto-Martinez questioned how the “strategic communications position” is different than a public information officer.
“You’re asking us to approve a position. I want to know what the messaging is,” the council member countered. “Because if the messaging is contrary to what I think the messaging should be … then I want to know that.”
Later in the discussion, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez also joined in on criticizing Chief McDonnell for his remarks about his department’s position on not enforcing mask bans.
“It was really problematic,” Rodriguez said. “And I raised concerns about, you know, are we setting ourselves up, or is the chief setting us up for this dynamic where he just independently opines whether or not a policy is good or not, whether or not it's enforceable or not, or whether or not it would be enforced by the department?”
“I think it's causing greater consternation among members of our public and our community that are being affected,” Rodriguez added.
Rodriguez also called out the chief and representatives for the department for being defensive when asked basic questions during city council meetings.
“When the chief has been here, there's been a very defensive response to very simple questions around accountability that would be asked of any other department, particularly at a time when we are … amid such fiscal crisis, and so I just want to communicate for the public and for the department to hear that the questions that this Council asks shouldn't be met with this reactive, defensive response,” Rodriguez told Pinto.
Rodriguez said the department “should be forthcoming.”
“If we got nothing to hide, then we shouldn't act like there's anything to hide,” she added.
The northeast San Fernando Valley representative told Pinto that when the state or any governing body adopts a law, “We expect everyone to honor it.”
“Thank you council member, and I hear you loud and clear,” Pinto responded. “I will report this back directly to Chief McDonnell when I get back to the office.”
Towards the end of the discussion, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez echoed the sentiment of her two colleagues and criticized Chief McDonnell's position on the mask ban.
“It really felt like, for me, in that moment where he should have stood up for the city of Los Angeles, he just said he wasn't going to enforce a law that was passed by the state legislature,” Hernandez said. “And I find that very problematic, especially in this moment where we need to be standing ten toes down for our city.”
During his final comments before the city council took a vote on the “strategic communications” position, Councilmember Soto-Martinez didn’t hold back.
The council member said that the LAPD’s and the city’s messaging concerning ICE raids doesn’t match what “the public wants to hear.”
“When we talk about what Los Angelenos are asking us for, they're asking for every leader in the city to say we are against excessive use of force, we are against racial profiling, we are against warrantless arrests and search and seizures,” the council member told Pinto. “We want to fight back against this fascist white nationalist federal government. That's the messaging I want to see.”
Soto-Martinez described a recent Sunday morning raid that took place in his district. After hearing of the raid, he went down to the scene and saw community members passing out leaflets and notifying their neighbors that federal immigration authorities were in the area.
“You know who I didn't see?” the council member asked. “LAPD. I didn't see the city. I didn't see anyone doing this work. And so it's not just that our messaging is wrong, it is that our actions are completely misguided right now.”
After the discussion ended, the city council voted to approve the “strategic communications” position in a 10-5 vote.
