Both the Los Angeles County Prosecutor, George Gascón, and the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Michel Moore, must feel steps on the roof these days. That is to say, their jobs are at risk.
Prosecutor Gascón has a very difficult time in his attempt to be re-elected for a second term. And since he began to make decisions to stop mass incarceration, she trod on mined ground since parallel to his actions as prosecutor, there was an increase in crime, especially property theft.
Most of the prosecutors in his own office disagreed with his policies, especially one that called for reviewing previous sentences they had won, and reducing sentence extensions. What’s more, there is a tense atmosphere in the prosecutor’s office.
Today Gascón does not please either progressives or hardliners. Don’t tell the police that they don’t like him at all, based on his warning that he was going to have them under scrutiny over the issue of excessive use of force.
The prosecutor will face a kind of referendum on his performance in the March election.
There are around eight well-known and respected candidates who are trying to take the position from him. The bad news for Gascón is that the polls place him at a disadvantage. 52% want him to leave.
Even the mayor herself has drawn her line with Gascón; And let’s be honest, the prosecutor’s mistakes affect Bass, because although the crimes do not occur in the city, people do not distinguish when they are carried out within the county.
Seeing things like this, the future of Gascón, who came to office by unseating Jackie Lacey in 2020, seems uncertain. His chances of re-election are not very good.
Moore screws up
LAPD Chief Michel Moore was exposed after it was leaked in the press that he was digging into the issue of the $95,000 scholarship that the University of Southern California (USC) gave to Mayor Karen Bass to pursue her master’s degree at the same time. who was a congressman.
Although the mayor was highly criticized for receiving the USC scholarship when she could pay for it with her well-paid salary as a congresswoman, she justified herself by saying that what she learned in that master’s degree was going to be very useful for her work. He even tossed aside the old line widely used by political veterans that even if something is legal, “if it doesn’t look good, don’t do it” when the House Ethics Committee gave him the go-ahead to do so. received the gift from USC.
Let’s also take into account that said scholarship and Bass’s dealings with USC were critical in the corruption case between USC officials and then-Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
The issue was even taken up in the 2022 election campaign, by Rick Caruso, who said that after that grant, Bass offered to present legislation to give USC and private universities eligibility to receive federal funds.
But returning to Moore, the leak of the issue by his subordinates made the LAPD chief come out to deny the alleged investigations that he allegedly ordered in early January when his continuity in office hung in the balance.
There are those who have the theory that Moore actually did order an investigation into Mayor Bass to have an ace up his sleeve, and to be able to renegotiate his contract for another five years. Although he has said that he will leave sooner, what police chief does not dream of staying in office as long as possible.
On the other hand, the leak shows the discomfort that exists among the police against Chief Moore, because they do not feel supported and because of the decisions he has made.
Whether Mayor Bass was investigated or not, the complaining detectives already got Chief Moore into trouble with the mayor.
Although it is known that this relationship already had some cracks. So there is no doubt that Moore’s days as head of the LAPD are numbered.
In short, the mayor is not entirely happy with either Moore or prosecutor Gascón.