A member of the Los Angeles City Council has been caught in a contradiction after it was revealed that his staff asked for special police protection. This happened after the politician openly called for defunding the police.
Los Angeles City Council member Hugo Soto-Martinez (D) was caught in his hypocrisy after a member of his staff called the Los Angeles Police Department for more protection around his Lexus.
The word about the special request soon made it into the local press and seemed to contradict the city council member’s earlier assertions. For the last several years, Soto-Martinez has been one of the most outspoken members of Los Angeles’ government about restricting the police.
Since the 2020 George Floyd riots, there have been any number of Democrats that speak of defunding the police, yet ask for additional armed protection.
Perhaps there is no bigger hypocrite than Soto-Martinez. The member of the city council was so bold as to retweet the Democratic Socialists of America while calling for restrictions on police. He wants to remove armed police officers from dangerous situations, yet his staff wants the police to look out for them.
LAPD has shot 22 people this year, including 3 in a single week.
We all know the system is broken, but fixing it will take all of us. We can start by taking armed officers off nonviolent calls and redirecting funds into badly needed mental health/addiction/community services. https://t.co/EJ5QSnxoVI
— Hugo Soto-Martínez (@HugoForCD13) August 13, 2022
This, of course, isn’t the first time that Democrats calling for defunding the police have been called out. The national GOP cited the case of Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who called for defunding the police, then received special police patrols at his home.
In another case, a Democrat running for Congress in New York called for defunding the police and then left her old district because it was too unsafe.
There is a clear need for police protection in our major cities. It is not unreasonable for a member of a city council to want their city to be safe. However, asking for special protection after calling to defund the police is where the controversy begins.
