A review of the Los Angeles Police Department’s response to last year’s anti-ICE demonstrations in downtown LA showed the city spent more than $17 million to pay the officers dispatched to the events and found the department should better prepare for future large-scale demonstrations.
During the protests in June 2025, the report said officers made 435 arrests, mostly for people who allegedly “failed to disperse.” The incidents involved more than 1,500 officers on some days, and the department used “chemical agents” on crowds for the first time in decades.
The 62-page report also said most complaints from the public about officers’ use of force were characterized as “injury reports” rather than complaints against specific officers because the department said it was difficult to pinpoint which officers worked for the LAPD or other agencies. It also said traditional use-of-force investigations became “too difficult” when there were numerous incidents “during civil unrest.”
The report did not explain whether those uses of force were still under review or had been adjudicated. Many demonstrators made public complaints about excessive force, and members of the LAPD’s oversight board have repeatedly raised concerns about the treatment of protesters are reporters at the events.
The cost of the June protests was staggering: the LAPD said salaries for the on-duty officers assigned to the demonstrations totaled more than $5 million, and overtime payments topped $12 million.
The 62-page report is set to be discussed at next week’s Board of Police Commissioner’s meeting.
The LAPD said Friday the report speaks for itself and didn’t share any additional comment.