REVEALED: LA councilor who voted to slash police funds has ‘called cops to his home EIGHT TIMES’ since April asking for protection from protesters
- Mike Bonin was among 11 councilors to vote in June to slash the LAPD budget
- The council agreed to reduce the annual operating costs by $150 million
- On Friday a reporter said Bonin called cops eight times to his home since April
- Bonin said all but one of those calls were generated by LAPD themselves
- Bonin said it was ‘a cute tactic to try to silence or intimidate a public official’
- LAPD sources insisted all of the calls to Bonin’s house were made from the house
A councilor for Los Angeles who voted to slash $150 million from the annual budget of the LAPD has called the police to his house eight times since April, it has been claimed.
Mike Bonin, 53, was among 11 councilors who agreed in June to reduce the annual budget, in the wake of calls to defund police forces across the country following the May 25 death of George Floyd.
On Friday night Bonin was accused of having called the cops to his LA home eight times since April, including requesting protection from protesters.
Councilor Mike Bonin voted in June to slash $150 million from the LAPD’s annual budget
LAPD were called to Bonin’s house, near Venice Beach, eight times since April, it is claimed
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin tweeted a link to a public records request, detailing the calls to Bonin’s Venice Beach home.
Bonin, however, denied that he had made the calls, and said they were generated by the police themselves.
‘I have NEVER asked LAPD for patrols at my house,’ he tweeted in response to Melugin, and described the Fox reporter’s tweet as ‘false’.
‘When protests occurred at the homes of other elected officials and LAPD offered to send patrols to my home as a precaution, I specifically asked for no patrols at my home.
‘Seven of the eight calls you cite were apparently generated by LAPD themselves, sending patrols without my request and often without my knowledge.
‘The only time LAPD has come at my request was to pick up as evidence the syringes that one of the right-wing protesters left on our doorsteps.’
Bonin responded to a tweet from Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, linking to a records request
Bonin insisted that he had only called LAPD to his home once since April
The councilor said the one time he asked officers for assistance was with debris from protests
Bonin claimed that the information had been planted to damage his reputation, in light of his vote to cut the police budget and his work challenging the powerful police unions.
He said he refused to be intimidated.
‘This is a cute tactic to try to silence or intimidate a public official who is standing up to the police union,’ he said. ‘It ain’t working.’
Bonin claimed that the information was made public in retaliation for his vote to defund LAPD
Melugin then hit back, tweeting what he said was a text message from a LAPD source denying that the calls to Bonin’s home were generated by the police, without his knowledge.
‘This was definitely a call for service by Bonin or a member of his staff,’ the text read.
‘The call would have been placed by the resident or someone reporting something happening at that address.’