The vice president of a Los Angeles police union encouraged officers to ditch the city and find work elsewhere during unsuccessful salary negotiations with the city.
Los Angeles Police Protective League (PPL) Vice President Jerretta Sandoz made the statement in a comment from her personal Facebook page as the negotiations were being handled in late June. Sandoz wrote in the now-deleted statement that the LA City Council was stacked against police.
"Go somewhere that respects the work you do and you don’t have to beg for a great contract," she wrote, according to a screenshot of the comment posted last month and now obtained by the Los Angeles Times. "Go somewhere that has a city council or city manager that openly acknowledges the great work you do, go somewhere that doesn’t have two or more City Council members who hate you (no exaggeration)."
The LA PPL represents the city's roughly 9,000 police officers. The city has already lost 1,000 officers since 2019.
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Sandoz's displeasure comes as the city continues to lose more and more officers who are frustrated with treatment by city officials. LA Police Commissioner Erroll Southers has called the loss of officers "very, very discouraging," according to the Times.
Sandoz defended her comments in a statement to the Times, saying officers were weighing the decision to leave the city long before she entered the discussion.
"My comments were part of a larger online thread about officers who stated they already decided to leave the LAPD," she told the outlet. "And I stand by every word I wrote to those who decided, or are strongly considering leaving the LAPD for another agency."
Meanwhile, crime and homelessness are spiking in California's largest city. Democratic Mayor Karen Bass signed an updated declaration of a state of emergency on homelessness last week, granting her additional powers to expedite the process of building more housing, call for the emergency service of city employees and coordinate citywide planning to respond to the homeless crisis.
Bass' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Overall, California has by far the most homeless people of any state. On a single night last year, 30% of all individuals experiencing homelessness in the country, or 171,521 people, were in California, according to data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Fox News' Aaron Kliegman contributed to this report.
