Eunisses Hernandez has been called a hypocrite for repeatedly calling for police to be abolished — then using taxpayer money to pay for her own security in public.

The socialist Los Angeles councilmember has built her political brand crusading against cops, winning election on an abolish-the-police platform, and even voting ”no” to the city’s budget three years running because she claims the $2.4 billion needed to keep them takes funding from her priorities.

But when it came time to securing the 36-year-old’s own public event, Hernandez turned to the LAPD — despite just months earlier voting against the use of cops for council events.

Documents obtained exclusively by The California Post through a public records request show Hernandez’s office arranged for LAPD officers to provide security for a Mexican Independence Day celebration hosted at City Hall.

The event, titled “El Grito 2025,” was held Sept. 13 and was expected to attract about 500 attendees, according to city event records detailing the celebration.

The event featured a reenactment of the “El Grito de Dolores” — the 1810 battle cry that sparked Mexico’s War of Independence — and also included a series of politically charged speeches.

The celebration came amid heightened tensions in Los Angeles surrounding ongoing ICE raids against illegal immigrants and the arrival of the National Guard in the city.

Internal LAPD records show 13 armed police officers were assigned to the event, logging more than 100 hours of special-event overtime as part of the security deployment.

The security operation carried a price tag of about $134,498.65 in overtime for use of LAPD officers.

The Post requested the records after learning Hernandez had sought police security for the event.

Hernandez’s office also provided emails between her and the police discussing the security detail after The Post’s request.

The Post did not receive comment from Hernandez’s office about her use of police.

The arrangement came despite Hernandez opposing in 2025 a specific City Council contract authorizing LAPD’s special-event security services — the very funding stream that pays for police to staff events such as such El Grito.

On May 20, 2025, the Los Angeles City Council approved that contract in an 11–3 vote.

Yet just four months later, she was using the same program to provide police protection for the City Hall celebration.

A spokesperson for the LAPD had no comment about the Hernandez’s security.

But the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing more than 8,700 sworn LAPD officers, condemned her use of armed police protection.

“It should come as no surprise that some politicians act like hypocrites, but Eunisses Hernandez takes the cake,” the union’s board of directors said in a statement.

“Hernandez has repeatedly voted to defund and disband the police, yet she saw nothing wrong with requesting police security at a community event to keep herself and others safe.

”Apparently, she has no problem spending taxpayer dollars for her safety but opposes doing the same for the residents she represents. It is time for change in Council District .”

Maria “Lou” Calanche, a former Los Angeles Police Commissioner and founder of the nonprofit Legacy LA, who is running against Hernandez in her northeast Los Angeles district, said Hernandez’s decision to request police was extraordinary given her anti-cop politics.

“Eunisses Hernandez is a hypocrite: Using LAPD for private security while voting against hiring more police officers is a crime and hypocrisy at its worst,” Calanche told The Post.

“Denying our communities the public safety they deserve should never be the priority of an elected official. Eunisses Hernandez’s hypocrisy — at the expense of taxpayer dollars — needs to stop.”

Hernandez also oversees the MacArthur Park area, where residents and business owners have increasingly raised concerns about public safety.

The Post has documented deteriorating conditions in and around the park — including open drug use, rising crime, and expanding encampments that residents say have turned a once-iconic public space into a mounting safety risk for families and nearby businesses.

The LAPD and federal agents flooded the park and surrounding blocks to takedown of the notorious 18th Street Gang — a major engine behind drug trade in California and beyond.

Hernandez is one of the most extreme left-wing councilmembers on Los Angeles City council.

The 36-year-old was elected to District One in 2022 on a clear anti-cop platform. “When we say abolish the police, we mean replace it with this,” she said of pumping resources instead into so-called community-based initiatives.

The Highland Park resident even declared she did not want the police to play “any role in my community.”
She forms part of a hardcore socialist bloc on the council who promotes a range of left-wing politics more inline with Communist Cuba than modern-day Los Angeles.

Hernandez believes unarmed crisis teams and mental health experts are better off responding to crimes than police, and has led the push to make Los Angeles a “sanctuary city” against ICE efforts to deport illegal migrants.

Under her remit also falls MacArthur Park, which she declares she’s cleaned up since taking office.

Hernandez, who is running for reelection, even took to social media this week for a victory lap, claiming drug overdoses are down in the area.

“The opioid epidemic didn’t happen overnight,” she said, blaming “failed policy, corporate greed, disinvestment and a system that treated problematic substance use as a crime instead of a health issue.”

However, Post reporting has repeatedly found the opposite is true, with the iconic green space in Westlake now riven with drug abusers and the homeless.

People smoke from glass pipes on benches, hand-to-hand drug deals take place in full view, and encampments spread across walkways

On a recent visit, Korean War veteran Richard Reggio was appalled.

“I wish I never saw this,” said the 92-year-old about the condition of the park named after Douglas MacCarthur, the one of America’s most revered generals who Reggio served under.

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