L.a. Is Safer Than It’s Been In Decades, But Crime Is An Issue Dominating The Mayor’s Race

Homicides successful Los Angeles are down to levels not seen since nan 1960s. Neighborhoods erstwhile awash successful pack unit now sometimes spell weeks, moreover months, without a shooting. And nan follow-home robberies and thoroughfare takeovers that captured nan public’s attraction successful caller years person mostly subsided.

By galore measures, nan metropolis is safer than it has been successful generations — and yet voters pursuing L.A.’s hotly contested mayoral title mightiness deliberation nan opposite.

The challengers to Mayor Karen Bass person zeroed successful connected homelessness and nationalist supplier usage to reason she hasn’t delivered connected nationalist safety, while besides criticizing really nan Police Department has operated and been funded during her tenure.

Mike Bonin, a erstwhile L.A. City Council member, said nan truth that Spencer Pratt — nan erstwhile reality TV prima who has been attacking Bass from nan correct — has gained truthful overmuch traction successful nan title is impervious of really Bass and different candidates to nan near person grounded to alteration “prevailing narratives that nan metropolis is unsafe.”

Mayoral campaigner Spencer Pratt hosts a run artifact statement connected 10th Avenue successful Los Angeles connected May 20, 2026.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Pratt has been peculiarly progressive connected societal media, wherever he has shared artificial-intelligence videos created by fans depicting him arsenic various superheroes coming to nan rescue of a metropolis that, nether Democratic rule, has turned into a dystopian hellscape.

In a March 26 station connected Substack, Pratt railed against nan thousands of drug-related calls that emergency officials respond to each month. He has said that if elected mayor, he would bid nan constabulary and occurrence chiefs and nan region wellness head to “treat each encampment arsenic a grave-disability zone.”

“No caller laws needed,” he wrote. “No endless task forces.”

Flanking Bass connected nan near is Nithya Raman, a progressive City Council personnel who was erstwhile nan mayor’s governmental ally.

Raman has based on that Bass has thrown excessively overmuch money astatine nan LAPD, pinch raises for constabulary officers coming astatine nan disbursal of different basal services specified arsenic parkland attraction and thoroughfare paving. Raman said nan LAPD salary increases person “bankrupted” nan city, depriving different services of much-needed funding. In run ads, Raman has formed herself arsenic a much sensible replacement to Bass. Raman has said she would activity to trim postulation deaths and prioritize information connected nan city’s buses and trains.

When she first ran for agency successful 2020, Raman called for defunding nan police, saying nan Los Angeles Police Department should beryllium a “much smaller, specialized equipped force.” Since then, however, she has voted for immoderate budgets that accrued spending connected rule enforcement.

In consequence to questions from The Times, Raman said she would activity to find ways to overhaul nationalist safety.

“I’ll propose budgets that grow unarmed response, activity pinch LAPD to amended 911 consequence to much quickly reply calls for thief that don’t require equipped officers, and will name activity astatine nan Police Commission who will actively partner pinch nan City Council to activity connected reform,” she said.

Representatives for Pratt and Bass didn’t respond to requests for interviews pinch nan candidates.

Bonin said Bass — who supported various constabulary betterment measures while Congress — has shocked immoderate of her supporters pinch really “aggressively pro-police she has been.”

When she ran for politician successful 2022, Bass vowed to retool nan recruitment and hiring process successful bid to reconstruct LAPD staffing to 9,500 officers. That hasn’t happened. The number of sworn officers precocious fell beneath 8,600, contempt Bass striking a woody pinch nan constabulary union to connection higher starting salaries and caller retention bonuses.

Mayor Karen Bass takes portion successful a campaigner forum connected May 5, 2026, successful Sherman Oaks.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

On Thursday, nan City Council approved a $15-billion fund for nan upcoming fiscal year, which included costs to prosecute 510 caller officers — conscionable capable to offset turnover and support existent staffing levels.

Raman has said nan LAPD should not shrink immoderate further because location aren’t capable officers to respond to 911 calls “in a timely fashion.”

Samantha Stevens, a Los Angeles governmental advisor and erstwhile legislative staffer, said group look consenting to backmost Pratt because he acknowledges that their consciousness of information has been shaken — moreover if he has offered fewer actual specifications astir really to tackle crime beyond cracking down connected homelessness.

Pratt’s critics opportunity that his scheme relies connected funneling bum group into a shelter strategy that doesn’t person nan capacity to grip them all. Others person noted that nan fierce strategies he has projected would astir apt look ineligible challenges.

L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is moving for mayor, makes a run extremity astatine nan tract of a location burned successful nan Palisades fire.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“He’s benignant of a lawsuit study successful personification who has a batch of opinions but has nary thought of really nan metropolis is run,” Stevens said.

Fernando Guerra, a governmental subject professor astatine Loyola Marymount University, said Pratt seems to person tapped into a heavy good of discontent among Angelenos who judge that crime and bum person spiraled retired of control. The situation for Bass, he added, is that though nan numbers propose that crime has decreased, galore group subordinate nan show of encampments spilling onto nationalist sidewalks arsenic “a breakdown” that indicates nan metropolis is becoming little safe.

“You want to spell backmost to nan days of Daryl Gates, you’ve sewage Pratt,” he said, referencing nan erstwhile LAPD main whose arguable constabulary sweeps successful nan precocious 1980s yielded thousands of arrests while alienating ample segments of South L.A.

“If you want much of nan aforesaid from nan past 20 years, you’ve sewage Bass,” Guerra added. “And if you want thing new, past you’ve sewage Raman, but she has to explicate what precisely she wants to do.”

Although Pratt and Raman look to beryllium nan strongest challengers to Bass, respective long-shot candidates person besides made nationalist information a cardinal rumor successful their campaigns. Some person gone aft Bass for her support of LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. Hired by Bass successful 2024, McDonnell has touted nan awesome driblet successful crime nether his leadership, but besides faced disapproval complete an uptick successful shootings by constabulary and aggressive crowd power tactics during protests against nan Trump administration’s migration policies.

Police Chief Jim McDonnell attends a news convention astatine LAPD office connected May 21, 2026.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Rae Huang, a curate and lodging authorities advocate, said if elected politician she would instantly switch McDonnell pinch personification who has nan “ability to really reimagine what nationalist information really looks like.”

“I’m nan only 1 pinch nan courage to opportunity that retired loud,” Huang told The Times during a caller run extremity astatine a bookstore successful nan West Adams neighborhood.

In societal media posts and interviews, Huang has often referred to nan LAPD arsenic “one of nan biggest ineligible gangs successful nan world,” and said she would activity connected diverting money from nan constabulary fund to standard up programs that person shown promise successful sending unarmed specialists to woody pinch emergencies that impact group experiencing intelligence wellness crises.

The metropolis is already moving 2 specified aviator programs, but nether Bass they person remained underfunded, Huang said. Last week, nan City Council signed disconnected connected expanding 1 of nan programs.

Huang said she would besides put much heavy successful addressing nan city’s deficiency of affordable housing, which she said is an underlying origin of crime and homelessness.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into onslaught ads against Huang and Raman.

Adam Miller, a tech entrepreneur, has tried to onslaught a equilibrium successful his mayoral campaign, advocating for changes while acknowledging that galore group still consciousness unsafe contempt nan historical driblet successful convulsive crime.

He criticized a caller ballot by nan L.A. City Council to limit alleged pretextual stops, successful which officers propulsion group complete for insignificant postulation infractions successful bid to analyse much superior offenses. The stops person been blamed for enabling group discrimination.

Miller said that “constraining nan Police Department is nan other of what we should beryllium doing.” He called for “leveraging” AI and modernizing nan department’s archaic machine systems, which he said could let nan LAPD to drawback up to different agencies that person embraced caller technology.

Miller told The Times that he precocious went connected a ride-along pinch officers from nan Rampart Division, which he said was eye-opening.

“At nan highest level I deliberation Angelenos don’t consciousness safe anymore,” he said. “They don’t consciousness safe successful their neighborhoods, but much precocious they don’t consciousness safe moreover successful their ain homes.”

Statistically speaking, nan metropolis mightiness beryllium safer than it’s been successful decades, he said — but that doesn’t needfully matter to voters.

“I don’t deliberation it’s conscionable perception,” he said. “I deliberation it’s reality that crime has spread.”