LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell doubled down during the city’s police commission meeting on Tuesday saying his officers would not be enforcing a ban on federal agents wearing masks during immigration enforcement operations.
Police Commission President Teresa Sánchez-Gordon asked McDonnell to clarify the department’s position “to the commission and to the community and public,” following his statements last week that the department would not enforce the ban.
His response drew laughs and criticism from members of the public present at the meeting when he defended his statements saying enforcing the ban would “be detrimental to public safety in Los Angeles.”
He said he’s holding out on enforcing the mask ban, which took effect Jan. 1, while a federal suit challenging the law is still pending.
“I’ll wait to see what happens with the federal judge’s decision on that,” McDonnell added.
He has continued to draw criticism from the elected officials who wrote the laws and are now defending them in court.
Sen. Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco, an author of SB 627, called the “No Secret Police Act,” also said that the law was established to provide Californians with protection from masked agents who they cannot identify.
“California must use every tool available to us to push back on the terror they’re inflicting on civilians,” Sen. Weiner said in an email to The LA Local. “That’s why we passed the No Secret Police Act and why we’re working on other tools to push back. It’s disappointing that LAPD doesn’t want to enforce California law to protect our communities in the face of this assault. That kind of defeatism doesn’t meet the moment we’re in.”
Sen. Weiner’s statement echoes what Sen. Sasha Pérez, D-Pasadena, previously told The LA Local. Pérez, who helped craft the mask law and SB 805 (the No Vigilantes Act), said the police chief is cherry-picking which laws to enforce.
McDonnell’s statements have added further public confusion at a time when masked federal agents have detained individuals and fatally shot civilians amid ongoing immigration operations across the country.
The Office of the Attorney General of California released a prepared statement to The LA Local saying it “is incredibly problematic when Californians can’t tell the difference between a law enforcement officer who is charged with protecting them and a criminal who is attempting to cause them harm.”
It added that, “Federal officers have a sworn duty to protect, just like state and local law enforcement, and instead, we’re seeing them terrorize local communities.”
An LAPD spokesperson said today that there have been no new policies related to the new laws established internally.
Los Angeles Documenter, Martin Romero, contributed reporting for this story from the Feb. 3 Board of Police Commissioners meeting. The LA Documenters program trains and pays community members to document proceedings at public meetings. Learn more about the program here.