Bass Orders Review After Deadly LAPD Encounters

Police SUV with flashing lights at night behind yellow tape — Photo: Elliott Cowand Jr / Shutterstock

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered an independent review of two deadly Los Angeles Police Department encounters after videos showed tactics that she called “incredibly difficult to watch.”

Story Snapshot

Bass will issue an executive directive to independently review deaths and severe injuries tied to police actions.
One video shows officers beating a handcuffed jail inmate who later died, spurring citywide outrage.
LAPD leaders say policy stresses de-escalation and that most mental health calls end without force.
The debate centers on training, tactics, and mental health response, not only the two cases.

What Prompted The Mayor’s Directive

Mayor Karen Bass responded after the Los Angeles Police Department released video of officers beating a handcuffed man at the Van Nuys Regional Jail who later died. Bass said the footage was “incredibly difficult to watch.” She announced she would issue an executive directive for an independent evaluation of officer-involved deaths and severe injuries. Her statement pointed to possible gaps in training, tactics, supervision, and accountability that the city now wants reviewed by outside experts.

The two fatal encounters were both captured on video, sharpening public attention. Reporting described both incidents as starting with dangerous behavior that drew a police response. The videos fueled demands for answers about how officers are taught to manage fast-moving threats and mental health crises. Bass’s action does not decide fault in either case. It starts a process to check whether the department’s rules and real-world practices align with what the public expects from sworn officers.

The Department’s Position On Force And Crisis Calls

Los Angeles Police Department officials and outside analyses say department policy already stresses de-escalation and less-lethal options. Guidance requires verbal warnings when practical and force that is “objectively reasonable” and proportional to the threat officers face. Leaders also point out that most calls tied to mental health end without any force at all. Those facts support the view that the worst outcomes are rare but still demand careful review to lower risk further.

Past cases show the stakes when policy and practice drift apart. In a high-profile review, the city’s Police Commission faulted pre-shooting tactics in a case involving a man with mental illness, even while finding the final use of deadly force within policy. That split view underscored a key point: what officers do before a trigger pull matters, and can shape whether force becomes necessary at all. The mayor’s directive places that same lens on the new cases.

Why Mental Health Response Keeps Driving Reform

National research finds that a large share of fatal police encounters involve signs of a mental health crisis. One peer-reviewed analysis estimated about one-third of such deaths included crisis indicators. That picture helps explain why city leaders talk about field tactics and crisis teams, not just individual blame. When people in crisis meet police first, training and clear steps can decide whether a scene calms down or explodes into violence.

Los Angeles has wrestled with this for years. Oversight bodies have said investigators should weigh the moments before a shooting when judging force. City audits have also flagged unclear rules for engaging with people in crisis. Those findings mirror what many residents on the left and right now say: systems meant to protect the public can drift, and officials must prove they will fix what is broken without excuses or delay.

Public Trust, Officer Safety, And The Path Forward

Bass’s move lands in a tense space. Many residents want safe streets and fast police response. Many also fear that bad policy or culture will let preventable deaths happen again. Police leaders argue they face split-second danger and already use restraint most of the time. Both can be true. The task is building rules, training, and oversight that keep officers safe while reducing the chance that a crisis ends in a body bag.

Karen Bass’s police chief — Jim McDonnell — has not ruled a single shooting to be out of policy. LAPD shootings went up by 40% last year while every other department in surrounding cities in LA are down. Karen Bass has offered zero criticism.

— Film The Police LA (@FilmThePoliceLA) August 29, 2026

The independent review will test whether Los Angeles Police Department practices match city values and legal standards. It can audit training for crisis calls, check if teams with mental health experts are used when needed, and see if supervisors reinforce good tactics. Real transparency and clear fixes can help restore trust across the political spectrum. If leaders dodge hard truths, public faith in the system will sink further, and everyone—officers and residents—will be less safe.