In a recent turn of events, former Vice President Kamala Harris, who also ran for the presidency, found herself at the center of a security controversy in Los Angeles.
Despite the efforts of Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom to ensure her safety by providing a security detail from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), their actions sparked a wave of criticism from both the citizens of Los Angeles and the Police Protective League. The outcry was loud enough to drown out the political maneuvering and attempts to deflect blame by the two officials.
The LAPD, as reported by The Times, decided to withdraw its protection for Harris on Saturday. This decision came in response to internal criticism that officers were being redirected from their primary duty of crime suppression.
Until Saturday morning, LAPD Metropolitan Division officers were visibly stationed outside Harris's Brentwood residence, assisting the California Highway Patrol (CHP) in ensuring her safety.
The scramble to protect Harris by both California police agencies was triggered by President Trump's decision to revoke Harris's Secret Service protection last week. This move was a departure from the tradition of extending such protection to former vice presidents for six months after they leave office, a courtesy that President Biden had extended to Harris.
Mayor Bass had instructed the LAPD to form a security team to aid the CHP temporarily. However, this decision meant that officers from the Metro division had to be pulled away from their crime suppression duties in the San Fernando Valley during the week.
Jennifer Forkish, the L.A. police communications director, stated on Thursday, "The department is assisting the California Highway Patrol in providing protective services for former Vice President Kamala Harris until an alternate plan is established. This temporary coordinated effort is in place to ensure that there is no lapse in security."
The CHP has yet to disclose how the LAPD's decision will affect its arrangement with Harris or how long it will continue.
As my colleague Rusty Weiss reported in late August, President Donald Trump rescinded Harris' Secret Service protection in accordance with the 2008 Former Vice President Protection Act. This act allows for SS protection to remain in place for six months after a VP leaves office. Unbeknownst to the Trump administration, former President Joe Biden extended Harris' protection beyond that, so Trump simply reset the terms in accordance with the law and his office.
Bass, who has been vocal in her opposition to ICE enforcement in Los Angeles, rushed to ensure Harris remained protected. She pulled members from LAPD's elite Metro forces to provide security for Harris and her husband, who live in one of Los Angeles's "safer" enclaves and have ample resources to pay for their own security detail.
Following Trump's revocation of Harris's Secret Service protection, a dozen or more LAPD officers were assigned to protect Harris. Sources not authorized to discuss the details of the plan said the city would fund the security but that the arrangement was expected to be brief, with Harris hiring her own security in the near future.
A Fox 11 helicopter spotted a security detail outside Harris Brentwood home, breaking the story of the use of L.A. police earlier this week. The LAPD union bosses were none too pleased about this, and they made their displeasure known.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers, criticized the move. The board of directors said, 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.
They added, Mayor Karen Bass should tell Governor Newsom that if he wants to curry favor with Ms. Harris and her donor base, then he should open up his own wallet because LA taxpayers should not be footing the bill for this ridiculousness.
Newsom, who was required to sign off on CHP protection, has not confirmed the arrangement to The Times, but a spokesperson for Newsom added: The safety of our public officials should never be subject to erratic, vindictive political impulse.
Newsom is no stranger to erratic and vindictive political impulses. He personally attempted to thwart the voters' desire to overturn Prop. 47, a 2014 ballot measure backed by Harris and written by their friend George Gascn. The measure, misleadingly titled "The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act," promised to reduce incarceration and free up criminal justice resources by reclassifying non-violent crimes as misdemeanors.
However, in the decade following its implementation, it contributed significantly to the rise in crime in the state. Californians for Safer Communities Coalition mounted a signature campaign to get Repeal Prop. 47 on the ballot, and the organization succeeded with Prop. 36.
Newsom openly tried to get Prop. 36 removed from the ballot but failed. Then, he attempted to get his Democrat supermajority legislature to insert poison pills that would remove the teeth from Prop. 36 enforcement.
Newsom's final act of defiance was to try and wedge a competing measure on the ballot to further confuse voters. In 2024, 70 percent of the voters approved Prop 36, reversing the damage Newsom and Harris had caused. This, coupled with Trump winning the presidency, practically drove Newsom over the edge. Of course, Newsom has refused to allocate funds to enforce Prop 36. Instead, he is pouring millions into his gerrymandering scam.
His motto appears to be, "Safety for me, but not for thee."
The rush to ensure Harris wouldn't experience any lapses in security was yet another slap in the face to California citizens, and a reflection on how little leadership cares about their safety. Bass and Newsom fight harder against Trump than they ever will for their taxpaying citizens, and everyone knows it.
In terms of pulling the plug on Harris' detail? It only took one week and one citizen journalist to expose how this "elite" detail was really spending its time.
Why Bass and Newsom haven't been run out of town on a rail beggars belief. But the quick action to strip Harris' LAPD detail shows that these failures are on a short leash with the citizenry and devoid of any further goodwill or political capital. It's only a matter of time.
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami fought against the former L.A. DA Gascn and also ran against him for the office. Hatami took to X to call out everybody involved in this Harris/LAPD security debacle, and ably exposed the hypocrisy of forcing the taxpayer to supply protection for Harris that she is well able to afford herself.
Even more rich: protection that Harris has consistently denied the average citizen in her decades of "leadership" in California and when she served as Vice President of the United States.
According to the LA Times, the LAPD has discontinued protection for former VP Kamala Harris. Another complete embarrassment. As a child abuse protector, a husband to a Deputy Sheriff, a dad, a veteran, and someone who was raised poor, went to public school and junior college
According to the LA Times, the LAPD has discontinued protection for former VP Kamala Harris.
Another complete embarrassment.
As a child abuse protector, a husband to a Deputy Sheriff, a dad, a veteran, and someone who was raised poor, went to public school and junior college and used the GI Bill for my education, President Trump, VP Harris, Mayor Bass and Gov Newsom are all acting like children regarding this secret service protection drama.
I am no fan of Harris. Anyone who supported Gascn repeatedly and Prop 47 among other nonsensical things doesnt care about me, our children or our communities safety. That being said, I wasnt personally against the extension of her secret service protection for another year. However, I find it beyond amusing that a multi millionaire living in Brentwood who constantly claims crime is down and firearms are bad needs armed secret service protection paid for by the taxpayers, but all of these politicians are do as I say not as I do.
Even though Bass has a huge budget crisis on her hands in LA and she knows full well how short-staffed LAPD is, and how home burglaries have overwhelmed our residents in the Valley, she, also a crime is down person, said LAPD should provide Harris 14 officers at the cost of the safety of the rest of us poor folk. Bass - politicians arent more important than the rest of us.
Newsom said The safety of our public officials should never be subject to erratic, vindictive political impulse. Another hypocrite - hey Newsom, we can all say the same thing about your 15 year support of Gascn and what he did to the safety of San Francisco and Los Angeles. The safety of our public should never be subject to your erratic political impulses. So be quiet.
The LA PPL said: 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.
Mayor Karen Bass should tell Governor Newsom that if he wants to curry favor with Ms. Harris and her donor base, then he should open up his own wallet because LA taxpayers should not be footing the bill for this ridiculousness.
I agree with my PPL sisters and brothers 100%. Most of us dont live in Brentwood and arent millionaires. LAPD should protect and serve ALL families, children and communities equally, not rich politicians in Brentwood homes who say crime is down anyways.
Mic drop.
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