Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez, a Democrat, pushed to make drastic cuts to the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) funding amid a nationwide campaign by the far-left to defund police departments — a move she made while having an LAPD unit stationed outside her private home since April.
Spectrum News 1 journalist Natalie Brunell reported that the unit, which guards Martinez’s home, usually includes two police officers and has been in place for the last two months.
“The private security detail infuriated some members of the force when Martinez became one of the council members to spearhead a motion to cut $150 million in funding to the LAPD’s budget,” Brunell reported Monday. “Multiple LAPD sources confirmed the units were directed to provide 24/7 security beginning April 4 at Martinez’s home, almost always staffed by two officers. As of May 6, we’re told the detail decreased to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. with roving patrol checks overnight.”
#LATEST LA Council Pres. Nury Martinez, who introduced a motion to cut #LAPD’s budget by $150 million, had a private LAPD protection detail camped at her home from April to June. It was called off the night we called to ask her team about it. Full story coming to @SpecNews1SoCal pic.twitter.com/1lv5ctqQEC
— Natalie Brunell ⚡️ (@natbrunell) June 9, 2020
Neighbors confirmed to Brunell that the officers have been stationed in front of the home for the last two months and indicated that they apparently felt safer having the police around, although they did not want to speak on camera.
Detective Jamie McBride, who serves as director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the LAPD’s union, told Brunell, “It’s kind of ironic. Here she is demanding $150 million be reallocated from the police budget, but yet she has security at her house by the Los Angeles Police Department.”
McBride noted that the special protection for Martinez meant that there was one less unit on the streets to respond to 911 calls from residents in the area.
“It’s disgusting,” McBride said. “For two officers in front of a residence since April, you’re probably over $100,000 of the people’s money.”
Brunell reported that the protection detail was cancelled the night that she reached out to Martinez’s office for comment on the story.
A spokesperson for Martinez said that the reason the units were stationed at Martinez’s home was because of threats she had received, although McBride pushed back on that notion, suggesting that if there was a real threat there that the units still would be stationed outside her home.
Brunell recorded video of the LAPD units that were stationed outside of Martinez’s home.
WATCH:
While one LA Councilmember was introducing a motion to cut $150 million in #LAPD funding, that official also had round-the-clock private security provided by the department at their home. @LAPPL calls it hypocrisy, adding it may have cost taxpayers around $100k. @SpecNews1SoCal pic.twitter.com/lrrRC65oj1
— Natalie Brunell ⚡️ (@natbrunell) June 8, 2020
Very few Americans support defunding or abolishing the police according to polls and surveys. The Cato Institute reported last week:
It’s also useful to keep in mind that few Americans of any racial group support some of the more radical changes demanded by some activists. For instance, few people support calls to abolish or defund the police: 9 in 10 black, white and Hispanic Americans oppose reducing the number of police officers in their community—and a third say their community needs more officers the Cato survey found. And a Yahoo/Yougov survey found that only 16% of Americans favor cutting funding for police departments, including 12% of whites, 33% of blacks, and 17% of Hispanics.
On Monday, Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender made a series of head-scratching remarks after her city announced its intent to “dismantle” the Minneapolis Police Department. Bender told CNN that people whose instinct is to call police if their homes are broken into enjoy “privilege” and later struggled to answer what people would do if there was a killer on the loose and they couldn’t call the police.
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