Radical defund the police lawmaker Eunisses Hernandez is attempting to seize control of the LAPD’s budget.
Cop-hating Los Angeles City councilors Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez want to strip key auditing and accounting functions from the LAPD and hand them to the city’s socialist controller, in a move that would reshape the narrative on the police spending.
The move follows Hernandez voting against the City Budget two years in a row, claiming funds directed to the LAPD were too high.
The plan would see the City Attorney to draft ordinances transferring responsibilities from the LAPD to the Controller’s office.
Eunisses Hernandez, a leading “abolish the police” voice, is now pushing to shift control of LAPD finances out of the department.
The measure, which passed unanimously Tuesday, will create a new “Bureau of Police Oversight” inside the Controller’s Audit Services Division, giving Controller Kenneth Mejia sweeping authority over how the LAPD’s finances are reviewed and tracked.
The LAPD said it would not be appropriate to comment at this stage.
But the department would lose accountants and a team of “police performance auditors” tasked with reviewing department operations, spending patterns and internal reporting.
The plan would roll out in phases, mapping out staffing, setting priorities, and detailing how the Controller’s office would probe LAPD operations, all under the banner of “transparency” and “oversight.”
LAPD officers sat in council chambers as a proposal to shift control of their finances moved forward, without being called to speak. Carlin Stiehl for California PostLos Angeles already has layers of police oversight in place, including LAPD’s own audit division, the independent Inspector General and the civilian Police Commission, all tasked with reviewing performance, spending and compliance.
Even the Controller already has the authority to audit LAPD finances.
The Controller’s office is traditionally responsible for auditing city departments, tracking spending, rooting out waste and issuing financial reports meant to keep City Hall accountable.
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Under Mejia, that office has taken an aggressive approach, launching high-profile audits and public dashboards scrutinizing city spending, including police overtime.
City Controller Kenneth Mejia could gain sweeping authority over LAPD finances under a new oversight proposal. Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesMaria “Lou” Calanche, a former Los Angeles Police Commissioner and founder of Legacy LA who is now challenging Hernandez for her northeast Los Angeles seat, blasted the proposal as a dangerous shift away from public accountability.
“This is the same person who ran on abolishing the police just four years ago, and now she wants to hand oversight to Kenneth Mejia… Stop playing games with public safety,” she said.
Calanche, who has centered her campaign on restoring public safety and basic city services, has repeatedly called out Hernandez for what she describes as a pattern of absence.
In December, she brought a life-size cardboard cutout of the councilwoman to a debate Hernandez skipped.
Maria “Lou” Calanche uses a cardboard cutout to call out Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez’s absence, slamming her leadership and pushing for change on public safety. Ringo Chiu
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez’s motion passed unanimously, advancing a plan to look into shifting key LAPD auditing functions to the Controller’s office. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images“This is our current council member, who’s MIA,” Calanche said. “She makes $250,000 a year. The least she can do is show up.”
Hernandez has built her political brand on calling for the police to be defunded and even abolished, yet as The Post revealed Sunday, she used $114,000 of taxpayer money for cops to provide security for her Mexican Independence Day celebration event.
Police officials were present in council chambers as the motion advanced, but no councilmember called them up to testify, question the proposal or defend their department.
The proposal requires additional analysis on staffing, feasibility and cost before it comes back for a vote.
The criticism lands as conditions in Hernandez’s district continue to deteriorate.
The Post has documented ongoing problems at MacArthur Park, including open-air drug use, pipe smoking and hand-to-hand deals unfolding in broad daylight, alongside the distribution of city-funded paraphernalia like needles and pipes.
