LAPD ends its protection of Kamala Harris amid criticism

The Los Angeles Police Department on Saturday discontinued its protection for former Vice President Kamala Harris after heavy criticism within its own ranks that officers were being diverted from crime suppression, sources told The Times.

- BY RICHARD WINTON

POLICE at L.A. City Hall in June. LAPD was protecting ex-Vice President Kamala Harris after Secret Service protection was revoked.

LAPD Metropolitan Division officers had been assisting the California Highway Patrol in protecting Harris and were visible until Saturday morning outside her Brentwood home.

Both California police agencies scrambled last week to protect Harris after President Trump, her rival in November's election, revoked Harris' Secret Service protection recently. President Biden had extended that protection for Harris beyond the six months after leaving office that vice presidents traditionally get.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had directed the LAPD to provide the security team to assist the CHP in the short term. According to sources, those Metro officers had to be drawn away from crime suppression work in the San Fernando Valley last week.

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, on Thursday. "This temporary coordinated effort is in place to ensure that there is no lapse in security."

The CHP has not indicated how the LAPD's move would alter its arrangement with the former vice president nor said how long it will continue.