Tag: lapd

Kamala Just Got a Humiliating Reality Check About Her Irrelevance

Kamala Harris just suffered a major humiliation in Los Angeles, and it’s one that speaks volumes about her diminished political stature… assuming she even had any political stature.

On Saturday, the LAPD quietly withdrew its officers from guarding the former vice president’s Brentwood home, ending a weeklong arrangement that had drawn fierce criticism for pulling cops away from fighting real crime in the city. For Kamala the optics couldn’t be worse. A once untouchable figure who enjoyed the trappings of high office is now struggling to find anyone willing, or obligated, to protect her.  

The saga began when President Trump revoked Harris’s Secret Service protection, which Joe Biden had ordered to be extended far beyond the customary six-month window after a vice presidency. Kamala’s aides had pushed for that unusual extension, claiming safety concerns, and Biden obliged—granting cover for another two years. Trump, upon retaking office, terminated that special privilege. That ought to have settled things, but California’s Democratic leadership wasn’t about to let the embarrassment linger unaddressed. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass jumped in, directing the LAPD’s elite Metropolitan Division to step in alongside the California Highway Patrol so Harris wouldn’t appear abandoned.  

Of course, those officers didn’t appear out of nowhere. The LAPD diverted those officers from crime suppression duties in the San Fernando Valley—a part of Los Angeles already ravaged by spikes in theft, gangs, and violent crime. Los Angeles residents know that officers are stretched dangerously thin, yet Bass thought it appropriate to reroute them to stand guard outside a multimillion-dollar Brentwood mansion. 

To say this landed poorly with rank-and-file cops is an understatement.  

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents front-line officers, blasted the arrangement as inappropriate and unfair. Taxpayers, they said, shouldn’t be footing the bill for a partisan security favor, not when ordinary residents endure slow response times and skyrocketing crime. 

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Report: LAPD ends Harris’ police protection 

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has reportedly ended former Vice President Kamla Harris’ protection. 

According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, Harris will no longer receive special protection from the LAPD, which had been temporarily arranged by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D-Calif.).

“Pulling police officers from protecting everyday Angelenos to protect a failed presidential candidate who also happens to be a multi-millionaire … and who can easily afford to pay for her own security, is nuts,” the Los Angeles Police Protective League’s board said to the outlet.

Bass had directed LAPD to assist the California Highway Patrol in the wake of President Donald Trump’s move to remove Harris’ Secret Service protection, which she called an act of “political retaliation.”

Following Trump’s move, a senior White House official verified the reports, noting that a vice president’s security detail typically only continues for six months after leaving office. That period would have ended July 21st, when Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, lost his personal detail under the standard provisions.

Trump’s office issued a note titled “Memorandum for the Secretary of Homeland Security” notifying the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the removal of Harris’ detail.

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Inside the secret LAPD club of Gavin Newsom’s nightmares… and their evidence a riot crisis was waiting to happen

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.

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LAPD Claims ‘No Probable Cause’ for Arson as Suspect Caught with Blowtorch Attempting to Ignite Fires

A man apprehended near the Kenneth Fire in Los Angeles will not face arson charges due to insufficient evidence, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed, was detained on Thursday after witnesses reported observing him attempting to ignite a fire on Ybarra Road in Woodland Hills.

Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said during a press conference on Friday:

“They interviewed this suspect. After the interview and additional investigative steps, looking at some additional evidence that was present, they made the determination that there was not enough probable cause to arrest this person on arson or suspicion of arson, and therefore this person was arrested on a felony probation violation.

This investigation is ongoing, however, and I’d like to thank those community members that were involved in this and helping us bring this person our attention, and so we can have an ongoing investigation.”

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LAPD expo shows latest in less-than-lethal police robots, devices

The Los Angeles Police Department hosted an expo on Thursday that demonstrated the future of non-lethal policing.

Some 70 vendors came to the police academy to demonstrate robots, advanced Tasers and other devices that can de-escalate dangerous situations without the use of deadly force.

The robots were available in two-legged humanoid versions as well as four-legged canine simulators.

“What this individual has the capability of doing is they have full range of motion,” said Michael Plaskin, whose company Alchera X develops police robots. “They can go ahead and communicate. They have the technology to raise their hands and walk around and be able to deter and detract from another individual.”

The LAPD and other law enforcement agencies were shopping around here seeing what’s available. The Police Commission has to approve major LAPD equipment purchases.

The LAPD is looking into less than lethal equipment to reduce the number of fatal officer-involved shootings

“We’re having more and more incidents with people suffering from mental illness,” said LAPD Capt. Christopher Zine. “Also people that are addicted to drugs and alcohol. So using effective less-lethal options gets us to effectively de-escalate the situation. And that’s our goal. We’ve been de-escalating for as long as I can remember. And we’re gonna continue to do so.”

One of the less lethal options on display was the latest in Taser guns. The Taser 10 carries up to 10 cartridges.

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LAPD Plans To Include Private Cameras In 10K-Strong Surveillance Network

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) intends to develop a new surveillance center that will give police centralized access to live security feeds from cameras in public and private spaces, pending budget approval from Mayor Karen Bass. The department hopes to be able to access 10,000 cameras through the city through the program, which has been dubbed LAPD Live.

Real-time surveillance center to utilize life feeds from home security cameras

The real-time crime command center would give police access to security cameras in and on city buildings, stores, police body cams and the department’s helicopters. It would integrate other software such as the Compstat intelligence tool onto one single screen. Homeowners could also register their own security cameras with the department to share footage from their property and be notified if a crime is committed nearby.

LAPD argues the program will reduce time and money spent on investigating crimes, gathering evidence, and talking to witnesses while “eliminat[ing] the need for officer visits to private residents” which in turn “preserves individual privacy.” It would also help mitigate the effect of a recent decline in sworn officers.

The LAPD previously tried to do something similar with Neighbors, an app that shares Ring camera footage and alerts with public safety officials. Those who agreed to Neighbors’ terms of service shared their information with police that would normally require a warrant, even when a crime hasn’t occurred. Some may have unknowingly shared their data with police.

Ring also made the LAPD a brand ambassador through a program, giving out free cameras in exchange for sign-ups. The program ended in 2019, and shortly after the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that the LAPD had sent requests to Ring users to obtain footage of Black Lives Matter protests.

Around the same time frame, at least 50 other local police throughout the U.S. also partnered with Ring, subsidizing doorbell purchases that would in turn expand surveillance capabilities for police while allowing them to circumvent traditional approval processes. Ring also filed a patent to add facial recognition to the devices but never announced plans to add the feature after public criticism.

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New York AG Probe Says LAPD Officer Helped Cover Up Allegations of Sexual Assault Against Former CBS Exec

An investigation has allegedly found that a commanding officer in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) tipped off former CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves about a confidential sexual assault complaint against him and worked with the company for months to ensure the complaint did not become public knowledge.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the results of the investigation in a 37-page report (pdf) published on Wednesday.

In a statement, James said the investigation conducted by her office had found that a complainant had visited an LAPD station house in the Hollywood division on Nov. 10, 2017, to report a sexual assault by Moonves in the 1980s before he was employed at CBS.

The complaint was marked “confidential” multiple times, James said. However, later that night, an LAPD commanding officer with the Hollywood division allegedly called the Senior Vice President of Talent Relations and Special Events at CBS, Ian Metrose, and left the following voicemail: “I know we haven’t talked in a while. I am a captain at LAPD Hollywood. Somebody walked in the station about a couple hours ago and made allegations against your boss regarding a sexual assault.”

The voicemail continued: “It’s confidential, as you know, but call me, and I can give you some of the details and let you know what the allegation is before it goes to the media or gets out. So, all right, talk to you after a while. Bye.”

James’s report claims that the officer who phoned Metrose knew him personally because he had been hired by CBS to work as Moonves security aid at the Grammy awards from 2008 to 2014.

Metrose allegedly alerted his supervisors about the complaint the following day, according to the report, and the LAPD commanding officer allegedly provided Moonves and CBS executives with the unredacted police report, thus revealing the complainant’s identity and personal information.

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LAPD Used Fake Social Media Accounts to Spy on Users

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers used fake online personas to monitor social media users, and at one point considered employing tools that critics say would lead to law enforcement profiling innocent people, according to recently revealed government documents.

The documents, released by the Brennan Center for Justice following an open records request with the LAPD, have raised concerns among critics that law enforcement’s online surveillance operations harm freedom of expression and encourage profiling.

“Social media surveillance can facilitate surveillance of protest activity and police presence at protests, which can chill both online and offline speech,” the organization said. “Further, the highly contextual nature of social media also makes it ripe for misinterpretation.”

The Brennan Center released an initial set of documents in September, showing that LAPD officers use fake social media accounts to monitor online activity. The FBI and other federal intelligence agencies are restricted from using such tactics under a Reagan-era executive order that require agents to reveal their identities when participating in private organizations.

“Social media situational awareness is gained by the passive and active searching for information impacting operations, including information found in discussion forums, posts, videos, and blogs,” a 2015 LAPD social media user guide says, adding. “In this capacity, social media use can be covert and/or clandestine.”

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