When people gathered outside LAPD headquarters last week to protest the police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, there was more than just the usual gathering of demonstrators, officers and reporters. Newly-elected City Controller Kenneth Mejia and some of his staff were there too.
Mejia and his team weren’t there to protest, but to observe.
The move could be interpreted as an early shot across the bow of the LAPD. It infuriated the police union, which claimed Mejia “hates cops.” But the controller says he’s just following through on his campaign promise of tough oversight of the LAPD’s budget and operations.
This past weekend, our team monitored LAPD responses to public demonstrations related to police killings in our city & across the country.
Our Controller team is always working to deliver transparency & accountability. One way we do that is with on-the-ground monitoring. pic.twitter.com/IVbprP3DMI
— LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia (@lacontroller) January 30, 2023
Showing up at a protest to monitor police behavior was an unusual move for a controller. But Mejia is anything but a traditionalist.
Previous controllers and their staff have shown up — sometimes unannounced — to watch city employees do their work as part of performance audits. But Mejia is believed to be the first to show up to watch LAPD officers in the field doing their work.
“We are trying to provide current, on-the-ground information on exactly what our payroll is getting us,” Mejia told LAist. “Usually you do an audit that looks back a year, two years, three years and you know it takes time.”
Mejia said he has requested information on how many officers and equipment were deployed, for how long, and how much it all cost — and that the LAPD is…
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