Los Angeles Police Department Officer Roberto Yanez said he has spent much of his career building bonds with residents of South Los Angeles and Watts, working with them to tackle gang graffiti, theft and many other quality-of-life issues. .
As senior principal officer, Mr. Yanez strives to ensure that residents and business owners feel comfortable approaching them about issues in their neighborhoods.
So he was stunned when he learned that City Council candidate Isabel Jurado had said at a university social gathering, “Police, that’s what I think.”
“I try not to let politics affect me, but it’s a slap in the face,” he said.
Yanez, a 34-year law enforcement veteran, said he would “love to hear” Jurado’s apology. So far, Jurado has rejected that statement, saying the phrase is “just a lyric” in a song that is “part of a larger conversation about systemic injustice and police accountability.”
Mr. Jurado’s campaign repeatedly refused to answer questions from The Times about whether he believed an apology was necessary. Jurado said her words were hurtful to them and the department’s more than 10,000 employees despite criticism from the police chief, some city council members, the police union and families of LAPD officers. , dismissed the controversy as a distraction.
With the election just a week away, the uproar over the remarks has brought a strange end to a tight race between first-time candidate Jurado and Kevin de Leon, a city council member who represents parts of Los Angeles’ East Side. Arose. The theme of the contest from the beginning was when and how to apologize.
Mr. Jurado has been attacking Mr. de León for months over his participation in a meeting with three other Latino political leaders that included crude and racist remarks. De Leon, who was politically scarred by the scandal, has repeatedly apologized.
The recording sparked a national scandal when it became public, and included an ugly exchange between a white congressman and his black son. It included the adjectives that Council President Nurie Martinez hurled at the District. Atty. George Gascón: “Huh, that guy… he’s on the black team.”
“That meeting should have been canceled,” Mr. de Leon told the Times last year. He said he asked hundreds of people for forgiveness, including elected officials, neighborhood organizers, Black clergy and other religious leaders.
In a lawsuit filed over the audio scandal, Mr. de Leon was less conciliatory, saying through his lawyer that he “never made any comments that were even remotely offensive.”
Jurado, the tenant rights lawyer, slammed de Leon’s apology as insincere.
“If I make a mistake, I will address it,” she said at a Sept. 11 candidate debate in Lincoln Heights. “First time I’m sorry. I can’t wait two years. I won’t wait for other people to tell me to do it. I’ll say I’m sorry and learn from it.”
Some of Jurado’s critics now call the term empty. Some say the fact that she didn’t apologize shows she meant what she said.
“She really feels like the police are an ‘F’,” said Val Marquez, an El Sereno resident who attended the Lincoln Heights debate. He plans to vote for De Leon.
Jurado made the remarks at an Oct. 17 meeting at California State University, Los Angeles, after a college student who also works for De Leon asked him what he thought about police abolition.
“What’s a rap verse? F, police, I think so,” she responded, arguing that police need to focus on gangs and violent crime. Jurado declined to name the song, but the words she used are very similar to parts of NWA’s “F— Tha Police” and Kanye West’s “All Falls Down.”
Mr de Leon called the remarks “disrespectful” and said he should apologize. Some Jurado supporters said they didn’t believe she meant it.
City Council member Nitya Raman, who supported Jurado and voted against last year’s police pay package, called the comment “disappointing” but said she thought he “made it in jest.”
“This was created to build a relationship with voters by talking to them in a comfortable manner,” Raman said. “And if she wins, I hope she can work productively with the PD, because that’s part of the job. That’s very important.”
In some cases, a candidate’s reluctance to apologize can make the situation worse. Two years ago, City Council candidate Daniel Sandoval apologized for his handling of a wage theft incident at a San Pedro restaurant. Her message came after weeks of combative rhetoric that prompted several supporters to withdraw their support.
Over the past week, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing LAPD officers, has been running digital ads saying Jurado’s public safety plan “starts with the F-bomb.” On Sunday, a group of women whose loved ones worked in law enforcement called on her to withdraw from the race.
“It’s dangerous for someone who wants a position on the City Council to say words like that. It’s dangerous because the police are protecting our loved ones,” said her boyfriend, LAPD Officer Fernando Arroyos. said Angela Mendoza, a police officer shot and killed by gang members while off-duty in 2022.
Gina Moreno (right) and Maria Johnson (left) sit comforting Angela Mendoza (center) with a portrait of her late boyfriend, LAPD officer Fernando Arroyos, who was murdered while searching for a home. At a press conference, they expressed outrage over Los Angeles City Council candidate Isabel Hurad’s “F— the police” remark.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Women sitting in the police union’s office said they feared Jurado’s comments would fuel public resentment against police and put officers at greater risk.
“This shows a lack of judgment,” said Gina Moreno, whose husband and two sons work for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “It shows the hatred she has in her heart.”
In response, Jurado issued a statement saying he has “deep respect” for those whose families have died in the line of duty. “We can honor the memory of our fallen officers while promoting accountability and fairness in policing,” she said in a statement.
Appearing on Fox 11, Jurado said the use of the word “F-police” reflects the reality residents face when seeking help from the LAPD.
“The whole comment is that community members call the police for help, and when the police come, they come themselves.” [turn] They are framed as suspects when they are actually victims,” she said.
Carlos Montez, who lives in Boyle Heights, said he has nothing to apologize to Jurado. During the interview, he spoke of police shootings in his neighborhood over the past decade and uttered the same phrase.
Montez, 77 and a supporter of Jurado, said LAPD officers should have been prosecuted for the shootings, including the one that killed 14-year-old Jesse Romero in 2016. The county prosecutor’s office declined to file charges, saying the officers used “reasonable force.” To protect yourself and others.
“Hey, LAPD,” Montez said. “The LAPD should apologize to the Chicano community for years of murders, broken bones, and false arrests.”
Montes said there was no comparison between Jurado’s recorded remarks and an hour of audio from De Leon, Martinez, then-City Councilor Gil Cedillo and Labor leader Ron Herrera. He said no.
Martinez, a former City Council president, said on the recording that then-Councilman Mike Bonin, who is white and gay, carried his black son around “like an accessory.” In response, de Leon said Martinez was “like when he brought a Goyard bag or a Louis Vuitton bag.”
Mr. Herrera and Mr. Martinez resigned in the wake of the scandal, and Mr. Cedillo has now resigned. De Leon and Cedillo filed separate lawsuits against the couple believed to be responsible for the recordings.
Mr. de Leon took a defiant stance during the lawsuit, slamming media coverage of the scandal, which his lawyer said was “more interested in clickbait than facts.”
Pam Marquez, an El Sereno resident who is married to Val Marquez, said she is ready to move past the audio leak scandal and vote for de Leon.
Over the past two years, she said, Mr. de Leon has done a lot to restore his reputation, including tackling homelessness and responding to the needs of his constituents.
“Everyone is entitled to a second chance,” she said. “And I think this is his.”
Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.
