Raman says the LAPD has grown more secretive under Chief Jim McDonnell. Has it?

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred When Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman was asked recently about the ways the LAPD was falling short, she pointed out that the agency had stopped posting neighborhood-level crime statistics.The lack of data, she said, gives an incomplete picture of how safe the city is — and also undermines the public’s already shaky trust in police.Her comments during a recent mayoral debate thrust the issue of police secrecy into the spotlight, while giving voice to a growing number of critics of LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell who argue that his department is moving in the wrong direction when it comes to transparency.

Frustration by neighborhood groups over the missing crime data has boiled over in recent weeks, thanks in part to Raman’s comments.But it also comes as free press advocates complain that the department’s responsiveness to public records requests has slowed, and as officers increasingly face accusations of targeting journalists in the field during protests.When Mayor Karen Bass and LAPD officials were asked about the disappearing crime data at a news conference last week, a senior department official fielded the question and chalked it up to a “software issue,” which the department was working on and hoped to have resolved soon.

A Bass spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.California Some observers see the November election between Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman as a referendum on LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.In an interview with KNX radio this week, McDonnell claimed that changes to internal policies and state law had made the LAPD more transparent today about its operations and functions than ever before.McDonnell declined an interview request through a spokesperson on Friday.“The Department remains committed to transparency and ...