{"id":702568,"date":"2026-04-03T18:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/702568\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T18:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:41:12","slug":"la-city-council-wants-to-put-lapds-multi-billion-dollar-budget-under-financial-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/702568\/","title":{"rendered":"LA City Council wants to put LAPD\u2019s multi-billion dollar budget under financial watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"

This\u00a0story<\/a>\u00a0first appeared on\u00a0The LA Local<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted in late March to research what it would take to create a Bureau of Police Oversight, moving accounting and audit roles out of the police department and into the controller\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez of District 13 said Angelenos lack transparency on how the LAPD spends its approximately $3 billion budget.<\/a> The motion he introduced has others on council backing the effort to provide the public with a better understanding of the cost of policing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deserve to have some transparency around how that money is being spent,\u201d Soto-Martinez told The LA Local. \u201cMoving these auditors to the City Controller\u2019s office will allow for an independent agency to review how our taxpayer dollars are being spent, so that we can make informed decisions on our budget, and prevent unnecessary cuts to other essential services.\u201d<\/p>\n

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City Controller Kenneth Mejia oversees<\/a> the city\u2019s finances, tracking how individual departments spend. Folding in LAPD accounting would provide his agency with the ability to report on police spending at a new level of detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, most audits of LAPD are conducted by LAPD themselves,\u201d Mejia told The LA Local, adding that the \u201cmove would mean that the Controller\u2019s Office would get dedicated auditors and accountants to oversee the City\u2019s largest and most expensive department.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

The motion still faces several rounds of analysis before it could be established but the unanimous vote indicates a high level of support among the council.<\/p>\n

It requires the city\u2019s legislative analyst and administrative officer, among others, to research the feasibility of transferring several positions out of the police department and to the controller\u2019s office. After those reports are submitted and their recommendations considered again by the council, the mayor\u2019s office would also have to approve it.<\/p>\n

The new Bureau of Police Oversight within the controller\u2019s office would generally focus on financial accountability, conducting performance audits, cost analysis for every division, reviewing the department\u2019s reports and monitoring its contracts. In total, it would transfer two accountants and eight performance auditors.<\/p>\n

The legislative effort started as one focused on the police department\u2019s accounting, recruiting and hiring practices, according to a review of city clerk filings dating back to last year.<\/p>\n

Soto-Martinez in January first introduced a motion directly requesting the ten positions be transferred out of the LAPD. Monica Rodriguez, of Council District 7, countered with an amended motion in March requiring reporting on the move before it\u2019s fully implemented.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Rodriguez said that her amendment was introduced to ensure the city does its due diligence and \u201creport on implementation, feasibility, costs, staffing, and the structure of a proposed Bureau of Police Oversight\u201d so the various stakeholders can make an informed decision.<\/p>\n

Mejia echoed support for the motion to be further reviewed: \u201cMy office is committed to ensuring that the Bureau is set up for success and that we can bring an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability for Angelenos. We will work diligently in these early planning stages, in partnership with city leaders, so that the Bureau is primed to execute our collective vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the LAPD declined to comment on the motion, saying, \u201cWe will wait for further guidance from our city partners.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This\u00a0story\u00a0first appeared on\u00a0The LA Local. The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted in late March to research what…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":702569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[3232,1582,276,2451,58647,2961,4530,224,5337,127336],"class_list":["post-702568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-budget","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-city","tag-controller","tag-la","tag-lapd","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-oversight"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116342245795938506","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}