LAPD assisting CHP to protect Harris

Los Angeles police Metropolitan Division officers, meant to be working crime-suppression assignments in hard-hit areas of the city, are instead providing security for former Vice President Kamala Harris, sources told The Times.

- BY RICHARD WINTON

A SECURITY DETAIL made up of L.A. police and CHP officers has begun protecting Kamala Harris, seen in 2015 with police officials.

The department is “assisting the California Highway Patrol in providing protective services for former Vice President Kamala Harris until an alternate plan is established,” said Jennifer Forkish, L.A. police communications director. “This temporary coordinated effort is in place to ensure that there is no lapse in security.”

A dozen or more officers have begun working a detail to protect Harris after President Trump revoked her Secret Service protection as of Monday. Sources not authorized to discuss the details of the plan said the city would fund the security but that the arrangement was expected to be brief, with Harris hiring her own security in the near future.

Trump ended an arrangement that had extended Harris’ security coverage beyond the six months that vice presidents are usually provided after leaving office. California officials then put into place a plan for the California Highway Patrol to provide dignitary protection for Harris. At some point, the Los Angeles Police Department was added to the plan, according to the sources, as California law enforcement scrambled to take over from the Secret Service on Monday.

A security detail was captured outside Harris’ Brentwood home by a Fox 11 helicopter as the station broke the story of the use of L.A. police.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers, criticized the move.