Politics
Who’s running the LAPD? Chief’s style draws mixed reviews in first year
When an LAPD captain stood up during a meeting this fall and asked Chief Jim McDonnell to explain the role of his most trusted deputy, Dominic Choi, other top brass in attendance waited with anticipation for the reply.
Multiple department sources, who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting and speak candidly about their boss, said McDonnell’s answer drew confused looks.
Some officials had began to wonder how closely the 66-year-old McDonnell, who stepped into the job in November 2024 after recent work in consulting and academia, was involved in day-to-day operations. Choi is often attached to his hip, and McDonnell has privately advised other senior staff to go through the assistant chief for key matters, leaving some uncertainty about how shots are called, the sources said.
At the senior staff meeting, McDonnell joked about not wanting to talk about Choi — who was not present in the room — behind his back, and told the captain that Choi was simply his “eyes and ears,” without offering more clarity, according to the sources.
The awkward exchange reflected the uncertainty that some LAPD officials feel about McDonnell’s leadership style.
Over the last year, The Times spoke with numerous sources, from high-ranking commanders to beat cops on the street, along with recently retired LAPD officials and longtime department observers, to gather insights on McDonnell’s first 12 months as the city’s top cop.
By some measures, McDonnell has been a success. Violent crime citywide has continued to decline. Despite the LAPD’s hiring struggles, officials say that applications by new recruits have been increasing. And support for the chief remains strong in some political circles, where backers lauded his ability to navigate so many challenges, most not of his own making — from the city’s financial crisis and civil unrest to the devastating wildfires that hit just two months after he was sworn in.
At the same time, shootings by police officers have increased to their highest levels in nearly a decade and the LAPD’s tactics at protests this summer drew both public outrage and lawsuits. Some longtime observers worry the department is sliding back into a defiant culture of past eras.
“You’ve got a department that’s going to bankrupt the city but doesn’t want to answer for what it is going to be doing,” said Connie Rice, a civil rights attorney.
In an interview with The Times, McDonnell said he is proud of how his department has performed. He said his bigger plans for the LAPD are slowly coming together.
McDonnell rose through the LAPD’s ranks early in his career, and acknowledged much has changed in the 14 years that he was away from the department. That’s why he has leaned “heavily” on the expertise of Choi, who served as interim chief before he took over, he said.
“He’s been a tremendous partner for me coming back,” McDonnell said.
Dominic Choi, who served as interim LAPD chief before Jim McDonnell was hired, speaks at a 2024 news conference with federal law enforcement officials.
(Al Seib / For The Times)
McDonnell added that he has relied just as much on his other command staff, encouraging them to think and act for themselves “to get the job done.”
Retired LAPD commander Lillian Carranza is among those saying the new chief has failed to shake things up after Michel Moore stepped down abruptly in January 2024.
Instead, she said, McDonnell has lacked the decisiveness required to make real changes in the face of resistance from the police union and others.
“It appears that the chief thought he was coming back to the LAPD from 15 years ago,” she said of McDonnell. “It’s been a disappointment because of the individuals that he’s promoted — it just seems like Michel Moore 2.0 again.”
There are notable contrasts in style and strategy between McDonnell and his predecessor.
Moore, who did not respond to a call seeking comment, often used his pulpit to try to get out ahead of potential crises. McDonnell has kept a lower profile. He has largely halted the regular press briefings that Moore once used to answer questions about critical incidents and occasionally opine on national issues.
Unlike Moore, who developed a reputation as a demanding manager who insisted on approving even minor decisions, McDonnell has seemingly embraced delegation. Still, his perceived deference to Choi, who also served as a top advisor to Moore, has led to questions about just how much has really changed. Choi has represented the department at nearly a fourth of all Police Commission meetings this year, a task usually performed by the chief.
Former LAPD Chief Michel Moore attends an event at the Police Academy on Dec. 7, 2023.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
It’s telling of their closeness, LAPD insiders said, that Choi occupies the only other suite on the 10th floor of LAPD headquarters with direct access, via a balcony, to McDonnell’s own office.
Choi did not respond to a request for comment.
Mayor Karen Bass chose McDonnell as chief after a lengthy nationwide search, picking him over candidates who would have been the first Black woman or first Latino to lead the department. He offered experience, having also served as police chief in Long Beach and as L.A. County sheriff.
McDonnell has mostly avoided the type of headline-grabbing scandals that plagued the department under Moore. Meanwhile, homicides citywide were on pace to reach a 60-year low — a fact that the mayor has repeatedly touted as her reelection campaign kicks into gear.
In a brief statement, the mayor commended McDonnell and said she looked forward to working with him to make the city safer “while addressing concerns about police interaction with the public and press.”
Jim McDonnell shakes hands with Mayor Karen Bass after being introduced as LAPD chief during a news conference at City Hall on Oct. 4, 2024.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
McDonnell has taken steps to streamline the LAPD’s operations, including folding the department’s four homicide bureaus into the Robbery-Homicide Division and updating the department’s patrol plan to account for the department being down fewer officers.
John Lee, who chairs the City Council’s public safety committee, said the chief is the kind of experienced and steady leader the city needs as it gets ready to host the World Cup and Olympics. McDonnell, he said, deserves credit for guiding the LAPD through “unprecedented situations,” while largely delivering on promises to reduce crime and lift officer morale.
But among the rank and file, there is continued frustration with the department’s disciplinary system. The process, which critics outside the LAPD say rarely holds officers accountable, is seen internally as having a double standard that leads to harsh punishments for regular cops and slaps on the wrist for higher-ranking officials. Efforts at reform have repeatedly stalled in recent years.
McDonnell told The Times that officers have for years felt that the system was stacked against them. One of his priorities is “making the disciplinary system more fair in the eyes of those involved in it,” he said, and speeding up internal affairs investigations that can drag on for a year or more without “jeopardizing accountability or transparency.”
He said he’d like to give supervisors greater authority to quickly weed out complaints that “are demonstrably false on their face” based on body camera footage and other evidence.”
But the lack of progress on the issue has started to rankle the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union for officers below the rank of lieutenant. The League urged McDonnell to take action in a statement to The Times.
“The way we see it, the Chief is either going to leverage his mandate and implement change, much to the chagrin of some in his command staff that staunchly support the status quo, or he will circle the wagons around the current system and continue to run out the clock,” the statement read. ”There’s no need to keep booking conference rooms to meet and talk about ‘fixing discipline,’ it’s time to fish or cut bait.”
Perhaps more than anything, the ongoing federal immigration crackdown has shaped McDonnell’s first year as chief.
Although McDonnell is limited in what he can do in the face of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies, some of the chief’s detractors say he is missing a moment to improve relations between police and citizens of a majority-Latino city.
The son of Irish immigrants from Boston, McDonnell drew criticism during President Trump’s first term when, as L.A. County sheriff, he allowed ICE agents access to the nation’s largest jail. As LAPD chief, McDonnell has often voiced his support for long-standing policies that restrict cooperation on civil immigration enforcement and limit what officers can ask members of the public about their status in the country.
“I get hate mail from two extremes: those that are saying we’re not doing enough to work with ICE and those that are saying we’re working with ICE too much,” McDonnell said.
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino marches with federal agents to the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on Aug. 14.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, who runs the department’s detective bureau, said McDonnell has to tread lightly politically and can’t follow the suggestion of some people that “we should use our law enforcement agencies to fight back against the feds.”
“He can’t come out and say, ‘We oppose ICE, get out of our city,’ like some of these other clowns are doing,” Hamilton said. “I mean, what, are you just trying to bring the wrath?”
But the LAPD’s response to the protests against Trump’s agenda has repeatedly led to bad optics. Officers have stepped in to keep the peace when angry crowds form at the scene of ICE arrests, which some said created the appearance of defending the federal actions.
During large demonstrations — which have occasionally turned unruly, with bricks and Molotov cocktails hurled by some in the crowds — LAPD officers on foot or horseback have not held back in swinging batons, firing less-lethal munitions and even launching tear gas, a measure that hadn’t been deployed on the streets of L.A. in decades.
Press rights organizations and a growing list of people who say they were injured by police have filed lawsuits, potentially adding to the tens of millions in the legal bills the department already faces for protest-related litigation from years that predated McDonnell.
Attorney Susan Seager, who is suing the department over its recent protest tactics, said that McDonnell has seemed unwilling to second-guess officers, even when confronted with clear video evidence of them violating court-imposed restrictions.
“I’ve never seen LAPD so unhinged at a protest shooting people,” she said.
An LAPD officer pushes back an anti-ICE protester during a rally on “No Kings Day” in downtown Los Angeles on June 14.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
McDonnell said that each use of force would be investigated thoroughly, and if necessary discipline would be imposed, but denied that his department’s response had been excessive.
What goes unmentioned by the LAPD’s detractors, he said, is how volatile and “kinetic,” protests have been, requiring officers to use all means available to them to avoid being overwhelmed by hostile crowds.
Reporters and others on the front lines should know the risks of being there, he said.
“If the journalists are in that environment, they sometimes get hit with less-lethal projectiles — as do our police officers who are in that same environment,” he said.
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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) delivered good news for America’s troops Friday, confirming that the one-time $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” paid to service members in December 2025 is completely tax-free, allowing troops to keep every dollar of the bonus.
In a Friday release, the Treasury Department and the IRS said that “supplemental basic allowance for housing payments” made to members of the uniformed services in December 2025 “are not to be included in income by those who received the payments; they are not taxable.”
The agency said federal tax law specifically excludes from gross income a “qualified military benefit,” adding that basic allowances for housing payments fall under that category and therefore are not subject to federal income taxes.
The confirmation caps off President Donald Trump’s pre-Christmas announcement that nearly 1.5 million U.S. service members would receive a special “Warrior Dividend” in recognition of their service and to commemorate roughly 250 years since the nation’s founding.
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President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth listen during a Cabinet Meeting in the White House in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
“And the checks are already on the way,” Trump said during a Dec. 17, 2025, primetime address from the White House, crediting tariffs and recently passed GOP spending and tax legislation for funding the payments.
“Nobody deserves it more than our military. And I say congratulations to everybody,” he added.
According to the IRS, Congress appropriated $2.9 billion in legislation enacted last July to supplement the basic allowance for housing payable to members of the uniformed services, with the one-time $1,776 payments funded by that appropriation.
The IRS said the supplemental payments were made primarily to active-duty service members in pay grades O-6 and below, along with eligible Reserve Component members as of Nov. 30, 2025, across the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Space Force.
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President Trump celebrates “reawakening the warrior spirit” within the military during remarks, Sept. 30, at Marine Corps Base Quantico. (Jim Watson/Getty Images)
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson welcomed the tax treatment in remarks carried by Pentagon News, saying the ruling ensures the money reaches military families directly.
“The tax-free Warrior Dividend places $1,776 directly in the hands of our warfighters and their families,” Wilson said. “The department is proud to recognize their sacrifice.”
During his December address, Trump also pointed to what he described as a turnaround for the armed forces under his leadership, citing record enlistment and contrasting it with what he called historically poor recruitment numbers under the previous administration.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the IRS news points to ‘what we’re doing to rebuild our military.’ (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“What a difference a year makes,” Trump said.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the dividend reflects a broader push to improve quality of life for military families.
“This Warrior Dividend serves as yet another example of how the War Department is working to improve the quality of life for our military personnel and their families,” Hegseth said. “All elements of what we’re doing are to rebuild our military.
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The Department of War and the Internal Revenue Service did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment.
Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this reporting.
Politics
Edison sues L.A. County and other agencies, saying they share blame for Eaton fire deaths, destruction
Southern California Edison sued Los Angeles County, water agencies and two companies including SoCalGas on Friday, saying their mistakes contributed to the deadly and destructive toll of last year’s Eaton wildfire.
Edison now faces hundreds of lawsuits by victims of the fire, which claim its transmission line started the devastating fire that killed at least 19 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena. The cost of settling those lawsuits could be many billions of dollars.
Doug Dixon, an attorney who represents Edison in the fire litigation, told The Times that Edison filed the lawsuits “to ensure that all those who bear responsibility are at the table in this legal process.”
The utility’s two legal filings in L.A. County Superior Court paint a picture of sweeping mismanagement of the emergency response on the night of the fire.
Edison blames the county fire department, sheriff’s department and office of emergency management for their failure to warn Altadena residents west of Lake Avenue to evacuate.
The Times revealed last January that west Altadena never received evacuation warnings, and orders to evacuate came hours after flames and smoke threatened the community. All but one of the 19 who died in the Eaton fire were found in west Altadena.
Edison also sued L.A. County for failing to send fire trucks to the community. A Times investigation found that during a critical moment in the fire, only one county fire truck was west of Lake Avenue.
The electric company also filed suit against six water agencies, including Pasadena Water & Power, claiming there were insufficient water supplies available for firefighters.
“Compounding the unfolding disaster, the water systems servicing the areas impacted by the Eaton Fire failed as the fire spread, leaving firefighters and residents with no water to fight the fire,” the lawsuit states.
Another lawsuit aims at SoCalGas. Edison says the company failed to turn off gas lines after the fire started, making the disaster worse.
“SoCalGas did not begin widespread shutoffs for four days — until January 11, 2025 — in the area affected by the Eaton Fire,” the complaint states. “In the meantime, the Eaton Fire continued to spread fueled by natural gas.”
“The risks and deficiencies with SoCalGas’s system that led to it spreading the fire were long known to SoCalGas, and yet it nevertheless failed to adequately account for them in designing, building, and maintaining its system,” the complaint said. “The result was catastrophic.”
Edison also sued Genasys, a company that provides the county with emergency alert software.
In addition, the utility sued the county for failing to remove brush, which it claims made the fire hotter and spread faster, causing more damage.
An L.A. County spokesperson said Friday that the county had no comment on the lawsuit.
Chris Gilbride, a spokesperson for SoCalGas, said the company would review the complaint and respond in court.
“Since Jan. 7, 2025, SoCalGas has worked diligently, in close coordination with local and state officials, to assess the impacts of the fires on SoCalGas’ infrastructure, make necessary repairs, and safely restore service to thousands of customers,” Gilbride said.
Lisa Derderian, a spokesperson for the City of Pasadena, said court evidence shows Edison’s equipment caused the fire.
“Today’s cross complaint does not change that fact and Edison should accept responsibility for the extensive damage it has caused,” she said. “Pasadena continues to prioritize safe rebuilding and recovery.”
Officials from the water agencies and Genasys could not be immediately reached.
In March, L.A. County filed suit against Edison, claiming that its transmission line sparked the blaze, requiring the county to incur tens of millions of dollars responding to the fire and its aftermath. The county is seeking compensation for destroyed infrastructure and parks, as well as for cleanup and recovery efforts, lost taxes and overtime for county workers.
Edison’s new cross claims will be heard in the consolidated Eaton fire case in Superior Court, which is also handling the lawsuit that the county and other public agencies have filed against the electric utility.
The water agencies that Edison sued also include the Sierra Madre City Water Department, Kinneloa Irrigation District, Rubio Canyon Land & Water Assn., Las Flores Water Company and Lincoln Avenue Water Company.
The government investigation into the fire, which is being handled jointly by L.A. County Fire and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, has not yet been released.
Edison has said that a leading theory is that its unused, century-old transmission line in Eaton Canyon somehow became re-energized on the night of Jan. 7, 2025, and sparked the blaze.
The fire roared through Altadena, burning 14,021 acres and destroying more than 9,400 homes and other structures.
Politics
Trump says no need to invoke Insurrection Act ‘right now’ amid anti-ICE unrest in Minnesota
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President Donald Trump on Friday said there wasn’t a reason, in the present, to invoke the Insurrection Act, as agitators continue to clash with federal immigration authorities carrying out enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
Trump was departing the White House when he was asked about the 1807 law, which he threatened to invoke earlier this week.
“I believe it was Bush, the elder Bush, he used it, I think 28 times,” Trump told reporters. “It’s been used a lot. And if I needed it, I’d use it. I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it. It’s, very powerful.”
The law allows the president to deploy the military to suppress rebellions and enforce federal laws. It would grant Trump the authority to federalize the National Guard and deploy active duty forces to restore order. It would temporarily override the Posse Comitatus Act, which normally restricts the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
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President Donald Trump sits at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office. On Friday, Trump said Minnesota officials had lost control amid anti-ICE unrest. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The law reportedly hasn’t been invoked since the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which began after four police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King.
Despite Trump’s threat, some Republicans are resistant to the idea of using the centuries-old law.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., seemed to downplay Trump’s threat, placing his hope in local law enforcement’s ability to “settle things down.”
“Hopefully the local officials working with not only the federal law enforcement, ICE and other agencies, but also the local law enforcement officials will be able to settle things down,” Thune told reporters.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., cast doubt on whether it would be appropriate to invoke the act, according to The Hill.
Law enforcement officers stand amid tear gas at the scene of a reported shooting in Minneapolis on Jan. 14. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., also expressed her concerns about the move, saying that the administration needs to be “very careful,” The Hill reported.
In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said “Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists” that have been seen violently confronting federal officers are “highly paid professionals” in many cases.
“The Governor and Mayor don’t know what to do, they have totally lost control,” he wrote. “If, and when, I am forced to act, it will be solved, QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY! President DJT.”
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A Border Patrol Tactical Unit agent sprays pepper spray into the face of a protester attempting to block an immigration officer’s vehicle in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 7. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the offices of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
Trump has accused Walz, Frey and other local leaders of inflaming tensions and has blamed dangerous rhetoric for the doxxing and violence directed at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
On Thursday, he threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if the violence continued in Minnesota.
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“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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Trump says no need to invoke Insurrection Act ‘right now’ amid anti-ICE unrest in Minnesota
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