Two days after her surprise entry into the Los Angeles mayor\u2019s race, Nithya Raman staked out her position on public safety, saying she doesn\u2019t want the Police Department to lose more officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to maintain the size of our police force and grapple with the fact that even the size of our existing police force is not enough to respond to 911 calls in a timely fashion,\u201d she said Monday in an interview with NBC Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Raman\u2019s statements represent a considerable evolution from 2020, when she became the first person elected to the City Council with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America. \u201cDefund the police,\u201d<\/a> she declared at one point during her campaign.<\/p>\n As a city council member, Raman has navigated a tightrope on the issue, responding to the wishes of her DSA supporters but also other constituents concerned about crime. <\/p>\n Just three weeks ago, she voted against the hiring of 170 additional police officers<\/a> sought by Mayor Karen Bass, a former ally who is now her opponent in the June 2 primary. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve voted for police budgets when they have maintained appropriate levels of investment and are fiscally responsible, and that\u2019s what I would continue to do as Mayor,\u201d Raman said Wednesday in a statement to The Times.<\/p>\n A Bass campaign spokesperson criticized Raman over her statements in the NBC interview, saying her vote against police hiring last month would have caused the LAPD\u2019s ranks to decrease even more.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what typical politicians do; they say one thing while doing another,\u201d said the spokesperson, Douglas Herman. \u201cNithya Raman\u2019s record clearly shows that she\u2019s not making the city safer.\u201d<\/p>\n Raman has been focused on the issue of public safety since her first council campaign. In a 14,000-word platform, she advocated for the LAPD to be transformed into a \u201cmuch smaller, specialized armed force,\u201d with responsibility for traffic enforcement, car crashes and nonviolent mental health crises shifted to other agencies.<\/p>\n Now, as a mayoral candidate, Raman appears to be offering more centrist views as she courts voters in a citywide race.<\/p>\n When NBC4\u2019s Conan Nolan asked if public safety \u2014 police and fire \u2014 should be the city\u2019s top priority, she said, \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIf people don\u2019t feel safe in Los Angeles, they are not going to live in Los Angeles. They\u2019re not going to invest in Los Angeles. They\u2019re not going to work in Los Angeles,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to make sure that safety is the backbone of this city.\u201d<\/p>\n Raman\u2019s latest remarks frustrated some who have considered her an ally.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re hearing is a betrayal of her stated values,\u201d said Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, which supports abolishing the police department. \u201cBoth she and Bass are running to the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n Raman joined the council\u2019s other three DSA-backed members in opposing last month\u2019s plan for additional police hiring<\/a>, which passed 9-4. When the issue first came up in December, she said the hiring would put new pressure on city finances, potentially forcing cuts in other services.<\/p>\n Bass and Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the additional hires were needed to keep the department from contracting further as the city prepares for major global events including the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n Even with the additional recruits, the LAPD will shrink over the course of this fiscal year, as more officers leave the department than are hired.<\/p>\n When Raman first ran for council in 2020, she didn\u2019t specify how large she thought the LAPD should be. (At the time, the department had about 10,000 sworn members.) However, she argued that a smaller police force would reduce the potential for violent encounters between cops and civilians.<\/p>\n That year, the council cut LAPD hiring<\/a> by about 250 officers in response to protests over the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In the years that followed, hiring continued to plummet.<\/p>\n In 2021, Raman tried without success to lower then-Mayor Eric Garcetti\u2019s police hiring goal, signing a proposal from then-Councilmember Mike Bonin to reduce it by 300 officers. After that effort failed, she voted for Garcetti\u2019s budget<\/a>, which increased police spending by 3%.<\/p>\n Raman also voted for the budget in 2022, when the council scaled back<\/a> Garcetti\u2019s police hiring plan, calling it unrealistic.<\/p>\n The following year, Raman opposed a package of police raises<\/a> backed by Bass, which provided the rank-and-file with higher starting salaries and new retention bonuses. That contract, reached with the powerful police union, was aimed at encouraging more officers to join the force.<\/p>\n Critics said the contract would add about $400 million per year<\/a> to the city budget by 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cMy analysis was that [the contract] would not increase recruitment and that it would bankrupt the city,\u201d Raman said last year at a community meeting in Encino. <\/p>\n In 2024, Raman voted against Bass\u2019 city budget<\/a> \u2014 the first since the package of police raises went into effect. Raman has long called for the city to spend money on alternatives to law enforcement, such as street medicine teams, new homeless shelters and gang intervention programs.<\/p>\n