LOS ANGELES — With Councilmember Nithya Raman elected as Los Angeles’ next mayor, one of the biggest questions facing officers is how her leadership will affect LAPD.
Raman defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, who conceded Nov. 5. Her public safety platform proposes expanding civilian crisis response, changing police deployment and strengthening oversight of the department.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League has warned about potential officer departures, while Chief Jim McDonnell has pledged to work with the incoming administration. Raman, who called for replacing McDonnell during the campaign, has said she does not want LAPD staffing to decline further.
Here’s what her proposals and public statements indicate about what could be ahead for LAPD.
Raman has called for replacing Chief Jim McDonnell
Raman campaigned on replacing McDonnell. Following her victory, she said she had spoken with the chief about maintaining public safety services during the transition, according to ABC7. She did not announce a replacement during those remarks.
McDonnell congratulated Raman in a statement following the election and said he looked forward to working with her administration.
“While elected leadership may change, the mission of the Los Angeles Police Department remains constant: to protect and serve our communities, reduce crime, and strengthen public trust,” McDonnell said.
He also thanked Bass for her leadership and partnership and said he remained committed to leading a department that provides professional, constitutional and compassionate policing.
His statement did not address Raman’s campaign call to replace him or announce a departure.
Expanding unarmed response citywide
A central part of Raman’s platform is expanding unarmed crisis response to every neighborhood and integrating those teams directly into 911 dispatch.
The proposed teams would include trained crisis responders, behavioral health specialists, medical professionals and outreach workers. They would primarily respond to behavioral health crises, nonviolent homelessness-related incidents and other nonviolent calls for service.
Under the proposal, dispatchers would route appropriate calls to civilian teams, which would coordinate with the 988 crisis line and the ability to escalate to law enforcement assistance when necessary.
Raman’s platform argues that officers are assigned calls that could be handled by other responders, limiting their availability for incidents requiring police.
Los Angeles already operates alternative response programs. Raman’s council office has supported CIRCLE, which responds to certain nonviolent incidents involving people experiencing homelessness, and broader efforts to shift nonviolent calls to civilian responders.
Her mayoral outline does not specify the number of teams, their operating hours or a timetable for full citywide coverage.
Changes to 911 dispatch
Raman proposes standardized call triage protocols based on risk level, the type of assistance needed, location and call history.
Her platform also calls for flagging high-risk and repeat incidents, including domestic violence, in real time and connecting those cases with follow-up services.
Another priority is improving the capacity to answer nonemergency calls. The platform describes lengthy waits for people reporting incidents such as completed burglaries or seeking mental health assistance.
The outline does not provide detailed criteria for assigning calls to unarmed responders or procedures for obtaining police backup.
LAPD staffing and civilian positions
Raman’s platform calls for working with LAPD to change deployment and staffing, including increasing civilian personnel.
The proposal references a 2025 RAND assessment that recommended hiring civilians for critical positions occupied by sworn officers and identifying officers in administrative assignments who could return to patrol.
RAND also found that hiring had not kept pace with personnel losses and recommended changes to recruitment, hiring and academy operations.
Raman’s position on department size has changed since her first council campaign. The Associated Press reported that she supported a smaller department and posted “defund the police” in 2020. More recently, she said LAPD should remain at its current size.
She also opposed the 2023 police contract, citing its cost.
Her mayoral public safety outline does not specify a numerical sworn staffing target, an academy hiring schedule or how many civilian positions she would add.
Union warns about officer departures
As ballots were being counted, Los Angeles Police Protective League director Jamie McBride warned that Raman’s election could lead officers to leave the department.
“If Nithya Raman becomes the mayor, the city needs to prepare for Armageddon,” McBride told NBC Los Angeles.
He added: “She won’t have to defund the police; police officers will just leave the department.”
Following Raman’s victory, the union congratulated her and said its president, Ricky Mendoza, had contacted her to establish a dialogue.
The union continued to express concern about potential cuts but acknowledged Raman’s stated opposition to further staffing declines, describing that as a shared goal.
Weekly public safety reviews
Raman proposes expanding the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety to coordinate policing, unarmed emergency response, fire, transportation, sanitation and community services.
Under a weekly, mayor-led process called “SafetyStat,” departments would review specific neighborhoods and safety concerns, present performance data and commit to corrective actions with deadlines.
The proposal also includes a public Community Safety Scoreboard with neighborhood-level information on:
- Response times and repeat calls.
- Violent crime and retail theft.
- Traffic injuries and deaths.
- Calls diverted to non-police response.
- Resident-reported safety measures.
According to her platform, the data would inform budgeting and deployment decisions.
The outline does not specify when the weekly reviews or public scoreboard would begin.
Civilian oversight and liability costs
Raman proposes strengthening the Police Commission and its Office of the Inspector General by ensuring they have the resources and department data needed to conduct oversight.
Her platform also calls for the mayor’s office to act on their recommendations and use the budget process to support identified reforms.
The proposal identifies liability spending as another concern. According to her platform, LAPD accounted for $152 million in liability payouts in fiscal year 2025, more than half of the citywide total.
Raman proposes examining limits on how much departments could draw from the General Fund for liability costs before using their own budgets. Her outline does not establish a proposed cap or explain how departmental contributions would be calculated.
She argues that stronger oversight, expanded unarmed response and changes to dispatch could reduce incidents that lead to claims against the city. The platform does not provide a projected savings figure.
Reviewing immigration enforcement practices
Raman’s platform calls for an audit of LAPD practices to identify any gaps between department operations and the city’s sanctuary protections.
She proposes preventing city data from being used for federal immigration enforcement, codifying and expanding restrictions on ICE operations on city property, and working with the city attorney to challenge unconstitutional actions by federal agents.
The outline does not specify the audit’s schedule or identify which department policies would be revised.
Violence prevention and repeat calls
Raman also proposes expanding community violence intervention through multiyear contracts. Programs would be evaluated on whether they interrupt violence and reduce retaliation.
Her platform calls for city agencies to coordinate responses when the same people, callers or addresses repeatedly generate calls for service, including closer work with the county Department of Mental Health.
Other proposals include coordinating enforcement and inspections to address human trafficking and training frontline city employees to recognize signs of trafficking and connect survivors with services.
The platform also includes neighborhood maintenance and dangerous property abatement as public safety priorities, with cross-department coordination to address unresolved hazards.
Next steps
Raman’s public safety outline does not include an overall implementation cost, a complete funding plan or a timetable for its major proposals.
Questions remain about department leadership, how the administration would maintain sworn staffing and how civilian response would expand across the city.
Those details will determine how the proposals affect LAPD assignments, dispatch procedures and day-to-day operations.
What are the biggest challenges LAPD will face under Raman’s public safety strategy?
