LA Mayor Orders Review of LAPD Tactics

Police tape cordoning off street with patrol SUVs behind — Photo: Matt Gush / Shutterstock

Two graphic LAPD videos pushed Los Angeles’ mayor to order an outside review of police tactics and accountability.

Story Snapshot

Mayor Karen Bass announced an executive order for an independent review after two deadly incidents on video.
The review targets policies, training, tactics, supervision, and discipline tied to deaths or severe injuries.
LAPD leaders point to de-escalation rules and faster video releases as signs of reform.
The fight reflects a wider struggle over mental-health crisis response and public trust in policing.

Mayor Orders Independent Evaluation After Graphic Footage

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the new footage was “incredibly difficult to watch” and announced an executive directive for an independent evaluation of officer-involved deaths and severe injuries. Her move followed a video release tied to a jail encounter that preceded the death of a 58-year-old man at Van Nuys Regional Jail. Bass framed the goal as testing whether policies, training, tactics, supervision, and accountability systems are enough to prevent tragedies.

Bass’s order signals a step beyond routine internal reviews. The plan centers on outside eyes assessing how officers apply force and how leaders train and oversee them. It also covers how the city responds when people show signs of a mental-health crisis. The mayor’s approach echoes earlier statements after controversial videos, where she pressed for full investigations and policy fixes when officers used force that later drew public outrage or official scrutiny.

LAPD’s Stated Reforms And The Tension Over Practice

Los Angeles Police Department officials say the department has rules that push de-escalation, less-lethal options, and warnings before deadly force. Analysts have also noted that most calls involving mental-health concerns end without any force at all. These policies aim to reduce harm while protecting officers and the public. Yet, high-profile cases can expose gaps between written guidance and field practice, especially in fast-moving, close-quarters encounters.

In earlier deadly encounters, then-Chief Michel Moore acknowledged that no specialized mental-health team was called during at least one incident where a man was in crisis. The department also released body-camera footage sooner than the typical deadline, a transparency step meant to address public concern. Those choices show reform pressure on timing and tactics, but they do not resolve questions about split-second decisions that lead to death.

Why Mental-Health Encounters Keep Driving Policy Fights

National and local research shows a large share of fatal police encounters involve signs of a mental-health crisis. One peer-reviewed study found about one-third of such deaths in its sample involved crisis indicators. That pattern keeps the focus on crisis training, dispatch practices, and whether officers slow situations down before force is used. Los Angeles oversight bodies have already weighed pre-shooting tactics when judging if force met policy standards.

Karen Bass’s police chief — Jim McDonnell — has not ruled a single shooting to be out of policy. LAPD shootings went up by 40% last year while every other department in surrounding cities in LA are down. Karen Bass has offered zero criticism.

— Film The Police LA (@FilmThePoliceLA) August 29, 2026

The Los Angeles Police Commission has, at times, ruled that tactics were flawed even when deadly force was later found justified or disputed. That split view reflects a key question for both civil libertarians and law-and-order advocates: Did the system set officers up to avoid lethal outcomes? People on the left and the right share a deeper worry that city hall and police leadership promise reform but do not fix root problems that keep producing the same tragedies.

What Bass’s Move Could Change—And What It Cannot

An independent evaluation can map failures across training, supervision, and discipline and recommend changes. It can push clearer guidance for mental-health calls and stress-tested de-escalation tactics. It could also set stricter trigger points for calling specialized teams. But an assessment will not, by itself, rebuild trust. Trust depends on whether leaders adopt the findings, set deadlines, and show results the public can see on the street and on camera.

For residents who fear crime and chaos, steady rules that protect the public matter just as much as restraint. For families who see a loved one in crisis, slowing things down can be the difference between life and death. Bass’s directive tries to bridge those needs. The next test is simple and hard: Do policies change, do officers get the training and backing to use them, and do fewer people die in police custody and street encounters?