Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman faced tough questions Sunday over public drug use and police staffing, prompting the city's police union to accuse her of contradicting her previous voting record as she campaigns to unseat Mayor Karen Bass.
During an appearance with host Graham Stephan on "The Iced Coffee Hour" podcast , Raman suggested certain calls involving people experiencing homelessness could be handled without armed police officers, arguing that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) would be unable to intervene if no crime was taking place.
"Like the issue that you had with a person who is on your sidewalk, who is clearly homeless, who is maybe not someone you feel comfortable talking to," she said. "LAPD would come out to that situation and not be able to do anything, right? If they're not — if there's not a crime happening there. If they're not a threat to themselves."
Stephan challenged her characterization, emphasizing that the individuals he described were openly using illegal drugs. "Well, there is a crime. They're doing drugs," he said.
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The exchange prompted a response from Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) Vice President Chris Wecker, who questioned Raman's commitment to maintaining police staffing in a statement to Fox News Digital. Wecker pointed to her opposition earlier this year to a proposal intended to offset officer retirements.
"No, there are not enough police officers now to keep residents and officers safe," he said. "What has Angelenos scratching their heads is the stark contrast between what Candidate Raman is saying today and what Councilmember Raman voted on earlier this year. This year she voted against hiring 170 officers to replace those who were retiring. This wouldn't have increased the number of officers; it simply would have kept the number of officers the same."
"So, who do Angelenos believe: Candidate Raman or Councilmember Raman?"
Raman's opposition is documented in her voting record. She was one of four council members who voted against a January proposal authorizing funding for 130 recruits — the final portion of a 170-recruit hiring plan that began in December and brought total expected recruits for the fiscal year to about 410, Fox 11 reported . The measure passed 9-4.
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Stephan described residents encountering people using drugs in alleys and near homes, including complaints that officers were slow to respond. Raman advocated expanding unarmed crisis response programs to handle certain calls.
Wecker rejected the idea that public drug use should be among the situations handled by unarmed responders, warning that the encounters could become dangerous.
"We support unarmed responses to some calls for service. Public drug use is not one of those calls," he told Fox News Digital. "These are some of the most dangerous and unpredictable calls to which officers must respond. We can't imagine a methamphetamine or cocaine user paying any attention to a clinician, and we believe the responding clinician would actually escalate the situation, putting them in harm's way and necessitating an armed response."
"It sounds good until good people start getting hurt," he continued.
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As Stephan repeatedly pressed Raman about whether Los Angeles needed additional police officers , the candidate defended her proposal to prevent further staffing declines while shifting certain responsibilities away from sworn personnel.
"I want to maintain the size of our police force. That's what — that's where we're at right now," Raman said.
She maintained that hiring civilian employees for administrative work and expanding alternative response teams would allow existing officers to concentrate on criminal activity. She also blamed bureaucratic delays for recruitment difficulties.
When Stephan questioned why she considered the current number of officers sufficient, Raman acknowledged that Los Angeles has fewer officers per capita than cities such as New York and Chicago. She advocated studying call volumes and deployment requirements before determining the appropriate staffing level.
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The debate comes as Bass has pursued additional LAPD hiring. Her 2026-27 budget proposal called for 510 new officer hires. The city subsequently adopted a budget maintaining that hiring target.
However, the incumbent mayor has also supported expanding civilian crisis response. In July, Bass announced more than $2 million in federal funding for the city's CIRCLE program, which deploys unarmed mental health professionals to certain nonviolent calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental health crises.
Alex Stack, a spokesperson for Mayor Karen Bass' re-election campaign, said in a statement to Fox News Digital: "Nithya Raman voted against hiring more police officers every chance she got in city council, and we have less officers now directly because of her. Mayor Bass has been working to expand the size of the police force to 9, 500 officers in order to reduce 911 response times and make our neighborhoods safer."
Fox News Digital reached out to Raman and the LAPD for comment but did not immediately receive a response.