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LA Councilman Voted To Strip Cops of $150M, But Records Show He's Called Them 8 Times Since April

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The modern Democratic politician has an incredibly difficult job.

From constant electoral pressure to appease the social-justice left at every turn to the threat of vandalism and personal attack should you fail to go far enough, it is no easy task to both serve and suffer the merciless onslaught of the mob.

Last week, it was revealed that Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin has not been walking that tightrope very well.

According to public records recently made available by the Los Angeles Police Department, Bonin seems to have privately broken with progressive left orthodoxy in recent months, issuing eight calls for service to local law enforcement since April. (Naughty, naughty)

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The longtime Democrat and 2008 Obama campaign field organizer has been outspoken in support of recent efforts to defund and abolish the police, voting in favor of a $150 million LAPD budget reduction despite recent crime surges, according to KABC-TV.

Yet the records revealed on July 28 indicate Bonin had no qualms making use of LAPD and its substantial resources during recent pandemic lockdowns and riots, calling the department for general information twice and requesting or receiving special safety patrols or police response on six other occasions.

Of course, knowing just how damning this hypocritical demand for police protection will look to both law-and-order conservatives and left-wing cop haters, Bonin denied ever making such calls for service.

“I have NEVER asked LAPD for patrols at my house,” Bonin wrote on Twitter, seeming to attack KTTV-TV reporter Bill Melugin, who found and circulated the records release. (I thought Democrats liked media whistleblowers.)

“When there have been protesters at my house opposing homeless housing, rent control, Stay at Home orders, and the BLM movement, I specifically asked LAPD NOT to send anyone,” Bonin continued. “When protests occurred at the homes of other elected officials and LAPD offered to send patrols to my home as a precaution, I specifically asked for no patrols at my home.”

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“Seven of the eight calls you cite were apparently generated by LAPD themselves, sending patrols without my request and often without my knowledge,” he claimed.

“This is a cute tactic to try to silence or intimidate a public official who is standing up to the police union. It ain’t working.”

Of course, this claim was reportedly refuted later on by multiple anonymous LAPD sources, one of whom told KTTV, “This was definitely a call for service by Bonin or a member of his staff.”

“From time to time we are called from high up to respond to city council member’s residences, but don’t usually generate a call ourselves,” the source said. “The call would have been placed by the resident or someone reporting something happening at that address.”

Do you believe Bonin?

And who would have believed Bonin’s half-baked response anyway?

This is a weak, weak lie. It’s dog-ate-my-homework, hand-in-the-cookie-jar weak.

Do I believe that, on rare occasions, the brass phones down the chain of command to ask that officers be conducting an extra patrol at the property of a potentially endangered public official without explicit request?

Of course.

Do I believe, however, that it happens every two weeks for roughly four months in a city gripped by a major spike in both shootings and homicides?

Well, I may be young and green — but I certainly wasn’t born yesterday.

We are not talking about the president of the United States here, who needs round-the-clock security.

This is a small-potatoes L.A. city councilman with a very public opinion that our law enforcement officers make poor first responders and only serve to scare the communities they serve.

That in mind, it is highly doubtful that LAPD officers and their leaders are lining up in the wings to voluntarily conduct an extra safety patrol adjacent to the Bonin residence.

In fact, you can bet those law enforcement officers are sitting in precinct having a good long laugh every time Bonin steps down from his sanctimonious anti-cop high horse to make a private call for extra protection.

Such a shame those calls are public record.

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Andrew J. Sciascia was the supervising editor of features at The Western Journal. Having joined up as a regular contributor of opinion in 2018, he went on to cover the Barrett confirmation and 2020 presidential election for the outlet, regularly co-hosting its video podcast, "WJ Live," as well.
Andrew J. Sciascia was the supervising editor of features at The Western Journal and regularly co-hosted the outlet's video podcast, "WJ Live."

Sciascia first joined up with The Western Journal as a regular contributor of opinion in 2018, before graduating with a degree in criminal justice and political science from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and worked briefly as a political operative with the Massachusetts Republican Party.

He covered the Barrett confirmation and 2020 presidential election for The Western Journal. His work has also appeared in The Daily Caller.




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