Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez — who proposed a $150 million cut from LAPD’s budget — ended her own 24/7 security detail provided by the department after being called out as a hypocrite, according to a new report.
Martinez, joined by council members Herb Wesson, Curren Price and Monica Rodriguez, introduced the motion in response to the protests held in LA following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody, Spectrum News 1 reported.
“It’s kind of ironic,” Detective Jamie McBride, director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the LAPD’s union, told the network. “Here she is demanding $150 million be reallocated from the police budget, but yet she has security at her house by the Los Angeles Police Department.”
Multiple LAPD sources confirmed to the network that the units, almost always staffed by two officers, were directed to provide 24/7 security beginning April 4 at Martinez’s home.
By May 6, the detail decreased to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. with roving patrol checks overnight, the sources told the outlet.
McBride argued that as the city grappled with a budget crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic, Martinez should have hired private security instead of using taxpayer dollars to fund her personal protection.
“It’s disgusting,” the union director told Spectrum News 1. “For two officers in front of a residence since April, you’re probably over $100,000 of the people’s money.”
The protection detail was canceled by Thursday night, when the network first contacted Martinez’s office for comment.
“After death threats to the Council President and her daughter and safety concerns that began over a month ago, LAPD recommended that placing a detail at her home was the best course of action to ensure the safety of the Council President and her family,” Rick Coca, Martinez’s spokesman, told the outlet.
Martinez nixed the detail because the security it was intended to provide was now compromised, Coca said.
An LAPD spokesman would not confirm whether there ever were credible threats against Martinez, telling the network it does not comment on security details.
“They try to keep things close to the vest because they can get leaked to the media and upset the community,” McBride told the outlet of the department. “And if she really felt threatened, then that security should have still been in place. Obviously, there wasn’t a threat there because the units from what I understand have disappeared.”
The proposed cuts would amount to a relatively small percentage of the LAPD’s overall $3.1 billion budget.