In two LA City Council races, police 'abolition' is an issue

Long before she uttered the words “F— police,” Los Angeles City Council candidate Ysabel Jurado made it clear she was unhappy with the city's approach to public safety.

In a candidate questionnaire last year, Jurado promised to shift money from the LAPD to other programs. He said the police should be removed from K-12 schools. And he has described himself as a “destructionist” – someone who favors “the abolition of the police and the prison industry.”

“I believe we are keeping ourselves safe,” he wrote in a 20-page questionnaire he gave to the Democratic Socialists of America – now one of his most important supporters.

Tuesday's election will determine whether Jurado and his allies can push City Hall further to the left on public safety by increasing the number of council members who want to tighten police spending and redistribute savings.

Jurado, a tenant rights advocate, is looking to unseat Council Member Kevin de León in the Eastside district. Another DSA-backed candidate, business owner Jillian Burgos, is seeking a seat in the San Fernando Valley.

In both contests, policing — and spending money on law enforcement — has emerged as a political faux pas, especially among voters concerned about crime and disorder.

Jurado, through his spokesman, described the completion as an ambitious goal, which could take many years and many steps. De León says Jurado's words should be taken literally, and seriously, by voters in his district, which stretches from downtown to El Sereno and Eagle Rock.

De León, who highlighted the issue to campaign dispatchers, called Jurado's approach to public safety “elitist and reckless,” saying low-income neighborhoods would suffer the most. He escalated his attack last week after Jurado told a group of college students, “What's a rap verse? F— the police, that's how I see it,” in response to a question about the abolition of the police.

“We need the police to keep our communities safe. It's that simple,” said De León. “Every nation in the world, including the most progressive nations – Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Finland, Norway – has police.”

Jurado disputed the idea that he would return money to the LAPD, telling the audience that he still wants police officers to respond to violent crime. At the same time, he argued that — with 1 in 4 city dollars going to the Los Angeles Police Department — too much money is being spent on the police.

“The safest cities in America are investing in recreation and parks, libraries and our youth, but we're not doing that,” she said.

Three of the 15 council members voted against Mayor Karen Bass' budget this year, in large part because of opposition to the use of police. Jurado and Burgos, if elected, would add two more votes to that bloc.

De León and former state assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, who faces Burgos, supported Bass's push to hire more police and restore the department to 9,500 officers. Both agree with the mayor's decision to give the police a large amount of money to increase bonuses, which is expected to add $400 million to the city's annual budget by 2027.

Jurado opposes both efforts. So does Burgos, an optician and part of a murder mystery theater company. On the day the council approved the police raises, Burgos accused city leaders of choosing “war” over humanity, saying the money should have gone to housing and public services instead.

“Crime has gone down completely,” he said in an interview. “I think we can invest in other solutions.”

Like Jurado, Burgos identified himself as a victim in his DSA questionnaire. Like Jurado, he told the DSA he would remove police from K-12 schools. Both said police unions should not be part of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which represents about 300 union groups and is a key player in city politics.

Former Los Angeles City Council candidate Jillian Burgos, pictured in January, has been vocal about the mayor's efforts to hire more police officers and restore the LAPD to 9,500 officers.

(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)

LA's DSA chapter has become a powerful political force, pushing city leaders for more tenant protections, higher wages and lower enforcement costs. Over the past four years, the group has successfully ousted three members of City Hall.

It has been an important supporter of Burgos, sending 167 people to knock on his doors, according to a spokesperson for the LA chapter. About 330 DSA volunteers did the same for Jurado, the spokesman said.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents police officers, sought to counter those efforts, sending out campaign mailers calling Burgos' public safety platform “dangerous.” The union spent $445,000 on campaigners, digital ads and other efforts to defeat Jurado and re-elect De León.

“Ms. Jurado said [voters] loud and clear that if he wins, it's going to be 'F-cops,' and that means fewer cops walking around their neighborhoods and enforcing the law,” Police Protective League President Craig Lally said in a statement.

The two council contests come as the LAPD's sworn workforce has dropped nearly 12% over the past five years, to about 8,800 officers — the lowest point since 2002. final bonuses.

Those measures are expected to drain the city's budget, adding about $1 billion in costs over a four-year period. As city leaders struggle to balance the books, many other city agencies have had to downsize, leave positions vacant or eliminate them altogether.

Even with a smaller LAPD, homicides in the city are down 29% this year compared to the same period in 2022. The number of gunshot victims has decreased by 27%, according to the LAPD.

Jennifer Macias, who chairs the DSA's LA chapter, said her organization added the termination question to their survey after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. He called the question an important part of the approval process — and “core” to the group's values.

Macias, who lives in Jefferson Park, said the city needs a way to respond to emergencies without involving police with “systematic violence.” He described de-policing – the idea of ​​policing – as a “North Star goal” that will only be achieved over time, after other initiatives are put in place.

“Not having the police doesn't mean we don't respond when something bad happens,” he said.

Burgos said that, for him, abolition means moving away from “functional” legal responses and toward expanded social services, such as job training, job placement and mental health care.

“That's all community care, and that's what I want,” the North Hollywood resident said.

Nazarian, like the other three, said he wants to expand the city's network of unarmed responders to help people experiencing non-violent mental health issues. At the same time, he rejected the idea of ​​abolishing the police, saying that there is nothing “going forward” about it.

“The rich and elite will always find a way. They will hire their own security,” said a resident of North Hollywood. “What will be left is the majority of people – the middle class and the poor working class – who will be left independent.”

Los Angeles City Council candidate Adrin Nazarian says there is “no progress” on the idea of ​​eliminating the police.

(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)

Nazarian, whose family fled Iran when he was 8, said there will always be people who want to torture others, hence the need for police.

Jurado said he never used the word “defund” when talking about the LAPD. At a Cal State LA event where he said “F— the police,” he also said the police should focus on criminals, violent crime and “the drugs that are attacking our communities.”

In an interview, Jurado said he doesn't know yet whether he will vote for LAPD spending proposals coming before the council, as one of his closest allies, Councilor Eunisses Hernandez, has done.

“We check the boxes” on the questionnaire, Jurado said. “But at the end of the day, we use our best judgment.”

Last week, Jurado dismissed criticism of his “F— police” remark, saying it was “just a song” for a rap song. He called the police union's attack ads “noise.”

Los Angeles City Council candidate Ysabel Jurado said attacks on her campaign by the police union are “just noise.”

(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)

If the recent LA election is any guide, the Highland Park resident has reason to be confident.

Hernandez, who also represents part of the Eastside, defeated two-term incumbent Gil Cedillo in 2022 while portraying himself as a abolitionist. He achieved that victory even after the police union sent out mailers warning that his policies would lead to the release of rapists and violent criminals.

Councilor Hugo Soto-Martínez, while running in 2022, also presented himself as a spender in his DSA questionnaire. He beat the incumbent, Mitch O'Farrell, by a wide margin.

“Elimination is being issued as an intimidation tactic and a way to divide people,” he said. “But many people who want to end crime believe that the way we end crime, the way we end crime by putting resources into families and communities, that will eventually lead to a society where we don't need the police. It hurts a lot when you think about it.”

Soto-Martínez revealed that De León fell in love with the Democratic Socialists in 2018, when he was a state representative seeking to recall Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Although De León's DSA candidate questionnaire did not include a question about abolishing the police, he came out in favor of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that controls the border.

These days, De León insults Jurado as a “hand-picked” DSA candidate, calling his public safety ideas “very dangerous” for LA That shows that De León is a “hypocrite,” Soto-Martínez said.

De León, in response, said that this year's DSA “is not the same as the Bernie Sanders DSA in 2016 or 2018.” The abolition of the police force, he said, is just another area where the group has gone too far.

De León, who lives in Eagle Rock, has been at odds with Hernandez and Soto-Martínez over the theft of copper wires, which have left many streets — including the newly constructed 6th Street Bridge — in the dark. Hernandez and Soto-Martínez cast the only votes against De León's plan to create a task force to fight such crimes.

Last summer, De León tasked the task force with arresting 82 people and finding 2,000 kilograms of copper.

De León's approach to social protection resonated with at least some quarters. Last week, dozens gathered in Highland Park to denounce Jurado's use of the F-word and vocal support of the LAPD.

“In this crazy world we live in, we need to support the police, not you-you-know-the-police,” said El Sereno resident Eddie Santillan.

Times staff writer Libor Jany contributed to this report.