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LOS ANGELES () — With one year under his belt as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, Jim McDonnell shared with Eyewitness News his feelings about the last 12 months packed with deadly fires, federal immigration raids and a presidential deployment of the National Guard to his city.
“It’s been a full year,” McDonnell said in an exclusive 7 interview.
McDonnell took over as police chief on November 8, 2024. Less than two months later, the Palisades Fire broke out, forcing the evacuation of more than 60,000 people and challenging the already depleted police force. At the peak of the fire, LAPD had more than 700 officers a day deployed to the fire zones.
McDonnell, who was still trying to put together his administration, was launched headlong into his first challenge as chief.
“I didn’t really know the internal audience,” he said, referring to LAPD’s command staff at that time. “When the fire happened I got to see who stepped up, who showed leadership and how they handled themselves… When I did the re-org, then were able to put, I believe, the right people in the right places.”
Then in June, the Trump Administration began widespread immigration raids in the city, spurring protests downtown. When some of those demonstrations turned violent, President Trump deployed the California National Guard.
That left McDonnell dealing with the Feds and the military in a clash over authority and jurisdiction.
“There was not a lot of clarity on what they (ICE) could and couldn’t do, what they were or weren’t doing,” McDonnell said. “We didn’t help them with their mission. We didn’t interfere with their mission.”
“People would complain when they saw us show up at the scene where ICE was, feeling that we were assisting ICE… Local police cannot do immigration enforcement. We’re prohibited from doing that.”
The near future appears to be just as demanding for the 66-year-old police chief. Next year, the World Cup rolls into Los Angeles and two years after that, the 2028 Olympic Games will call L.A. home.
McDonnell pointed out that those international events are arriving just as the number of LAPD officers continues to plummet.
“We’ve been losing people — we’re down 1,400 officers. That’s a tremendous hit to a department that is very lean at its best,” he said. “We will be able to successfully police the World Cup and the Olympics, but we’ll have to do it differently.”
Fortunately, with overall crime numbers falling, McDonnell is catching his breath right now, but waiting to see what L.A. will throw at him next.
“I look back on this year and I couldn’t be more proud to be back,” he said.
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