Los Angeles cops have a private chatroom — and California‘s Democratic leaders won’t like what they’re saying.
The Instagram group ‘Defend the LAPD’ allows officers and commanders to talk freely about what’s really going on in the streets of America’s second-biggest city, where cops clash daily with anti-government rioters.
The Daily Mail gained exclusive access to the 8,500-member club and spoke to its organizers — and the views they presented were a stark rebuke to Gov Gavin Newsom and other leaders of the Democrat-run state.
Despite what their bosses say, LAPD officers broadly support the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard to protect federal buildings amid a wave of sometimes violent protests against immigration raids, says the group.
Members also expressed alarm at LA Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, for allegedly taking command of their control room, delaying the deployment of officers, and putting federal agents and the public in danger.
They also accused media outlets of one-sided coverage of the protests, by focussing on heavy-handed policing while overlooking the threat that some violent activists posed to cops and the public.
More broadly, they say the city has ‘quietly defunded’ the LAPD since the George Floyd protests of 2020, and that today’s force is understaffed, underresourced, and cannot handle the crisis exploding on the streets.
The revelations come as US Marines head to Los Angeles, as part of a federal strategy to quell the protests against immigration raids, which are a signature effort of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Hellbound and Down 