LAPD Chief Firing Plan Sparks Olympic Safety Concerns

Police officers in black uniforms with duty belts — Photo: Matt Gush / Shutterstock

A Los Angeles mayoral candidate says she wants to fire the city’s police chief, and now a former mayoral hopeful is publicly warning that plan could backfire just before the 2028 Olympics.

Quick Take

Councilmember Nithya Raman says she would replace LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, arguing he “has not met this moment.”
Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer and former mayoral candidate, says he has “extreme concern” about the plan but still won’t endorse either candidate.
Raman has given shifting timelines for the change, sometimes suggesting 2030, other times before McDonnell’s term ends.
Mayor Karen Bass warns a leadership swap could cause “disarray” ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
City rules mean the mayor cannot fire the chief alone — the Police Commission and City Council both play a role.

Caruso Breaks His Silence On Raman’s Police Plan

Rick Caruso, the real estate developer who ran for Los Angeles mayor in 2022, spoke out at an October 20 event alongside Mayor Karen Bass. He said he feels “extreme concern” when “a candidate is talking about firing a chief of police.” Caruso also said he doesn’t want “LAPD being a lab experiment” for the Democratic Socialists of America, though he still declined to endorse Bass or Raman in the race.

Caruso’s comment lands at a tense moment. Raman, a sitting city councilmember challenging Bass, has made Chief McDonnell’s future a central campaign issue. At an October 13 televised debate, she said plainly, “I want to replace the police chief,” though she admitted other city bodies would have to be involved in that decision.

Raman’s Case Against The Current Police Chief

Raman’s complaint isn’t just personal. She says McDonnell “has not met this moment” and claims he has lost trust among immigrant communities after Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids swept through Los Angeles. She has accused LAPD of appearing to protect federal immigration agents instead of residents, and says she would stop the department from sharing data, including license-plate camera records, with ICE.

Raman’s broader public-safety plan goes beyond personnel. Her first-100-days proposal calls for expanding unarmed crisis-response teams to handle mental health and homelessness calls, hiring more 911 operators, and boosting patrols in commercial areas. She says a city evaluation found these unarmed teams already provide better care while freeing up thousands of LAPD hours for serious investigative work.

Timing Questions Create An Opening For Critics

Raman has not settled on when she would make the change. The Los Angeles Times reported she wouldn’t say whether McDonnell would be gone before the 2028 Olympics even when directly asked. Other reporting says she has floated both 2030 and a swap before McDonnell’s term ends in late 2029, giving opponents room to call her inconsistent.

Bass has seized on that uncertainty, warning that pulling out a chief right before the Olympics could throw the department into “disarray”. The Games will bring intense security demands and global attention to Los Angeles, making any leadership shakeup during that window politically risky regardless of the operational facts.

Nithya Raman Calls For LAPD Chief’s Removal, Clashes With Bass

Raman called for LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell’s removal, while Bass warned against changing leadership before the 2028 Olympics.

Read More: https://t.co/GS6rLMjU5t #IndiaWest pic.twitter.com/HXg2gfnllK

— India West (@indiawestnews) October 15, 2026

Who Actually Controls The Chief’s Job

The mayor cannot simply fire the police chief alone. Under the city’s governance structure, the Police Commission and City Council both have a role in removing or reviewing LAPD leadership. Raman herself has acknowledged this, saying any change would require agreement from the commission and possibly the council, and that she would pursue a “responsible” process rather than an abrupt dismissal.

That complexity cuts both ways. It softens the image of Raman unilaterally axing a chief, but it also means voters can’t be sure what her promise would actually look like in practice. No released LAPD transition plan, staffing study, or Olympic security assessment currently backs up either side’s predictions about what a leadership change would mean for public safety.

A Pattern Beyond Los Angeles

Police chief turnover has sped up across the country in recent years, often tied to political friction rather than performance alone. Research on large-city departments shows chiefs now average roughly two and a half to three years on the job, down from four to six years in past decades, as conflicts with local officials and community groups increasingly drive departures. That trend suggests the Raman-McDonnell standoff reflects a national pattern, not an isolated Los Angeles dispute, even as each side debates what it means for public safety heading into a high-profile Olympic year.