LOS ANGELES (KNX) – On Wednesday, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez filed a motion that would explore the idea of removing weapons from the Los Angeles Police Department officers who work in the council chamber.
“We put this motion forward because being in the chambers, we noticed that having armed law enforcement has created a lot of intimidation, a lot of the tensions we’ve been experiencing” Hernandez explained to LA Morning News. “It hasn’t really done anything to kind of calm down the push back that community is presenting in that moment.”
For months, protestors have flocked to the city council chambers demanding the resignation of Councilmember Kevin De Leon, after he and former councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Nury Martinez were caught making racist remarks in a recorded conversation that was leaked.
During the protestor, LAPD officers have been present.
“Folks should be able to yell, but the response should not be guns, armed officers,” Hernandez said.
The motion, she noted, calls to have city departments working with community organization “to identify responses that are befitting of that space that deescalate the tension.”
“We need to be innovative, we need to implement models that we know deescalate tension and tense situations like we are in the chambers often times,” she explained.
A union representing the LAPD called the motion “irresponsible”, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“…(W)hen people come into the chambers, they actually go through a security screening led by and implemented by LAPD,” she said. “So I’m not sure why they said that it’s irresponsible when our safety is literally starting at the front door and they are the care takers at the front door.”
You can listen to the full interview with Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez in the audio above.
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