Judicial Watch Uncovers the Cost of Travel Expenses for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s LAPD Security Detail

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained the details of the travel expenses of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) security detail from fiscal years (FY) 2015 – 2018. Over the four-year period, $438,195.06 of taxpayer money was spent on their flights, lodging, meals and incidentals. These costs do not account for salaries and potential overtime.  

This information was obtained from a California Public Records Act (CPRA) request seeking:

• Any and all record concerning, regarding, or relating to monetary expenses of the Mayor’s security detail;
• Every fiscal year budget of the Mayor’s security detail;
• Any records and communications concerning, regarding, or relating to the Mayor’s security between the LAPD and the following entities:
  • The Office of the Mayor;
  • The California Fraternal Order of Police.

The timeframe of the records was July 1, 2013, to present.

The security detail travel expenses from FY 2015-2018 break down as follows:

Total Cost: $438,195.06

Airfare: $154,077.27

Lodging and Car Rentals: $132,516.87

Meals and Incidentals: $54,063.66

Specific International trip costs:

$16,408.81 to Paris

$5,525.47 to Aukland, New Zealand

$6,996.48 to Beijing

$22,270.16 to Rio de Janeiro

$4,842.52 to Doha, Qatar

$2,895.61 to Mexico City

$9,163.79 to Aarhus, Denmark

$10,712.44 to Berlin

$8,145.91 to Lausanne, Switzerland

$2,185.20 to Lima, Peru

$9,437.12 to Paris

On June 3, 2020, Fox News reported that Mayor Garcetti said, “that he tasked the city to ‘identify $250 million in cuts’” from the police department budget. Adding that, “Garcetti said it is incumbent on the city to ‘step up and say, “What can we sacrifice?’” 

On June 3, 2020, The Los Angeles Times reported that in response to Mayor Garcetti’s request, Los Angeles officials stated that, “they will look to cut $100 million to $150 million from the city’s police budget as part of a broader effort to reinvest more dollars into the black community.”

On November 2, 2018, The Los Angeles Times also uncovered and reported that, “Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s security detail has racked up nearly $450,000 in travel costs since 2015 as Garcetti visited other parts of the United States and foreign countries …” According to the Times, Garcetti’s travel was intended, “to bolster his national profile ahead of a possible presidential run …”

“Mayor Garcetti would defund the police and weaken police protection for citizens while personally benefiting from police protection as mayor on junkets abroad,” stated Judicial Watch Tom Fitton.

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