LAPD chief Jim McDonnell has done a good job by any reasonable measure, especially given the tough political circumstances. Yet Nithya Raman is vowing to fire him, if she’s elected.

It’s one of the crazier pledges of a campaign that has already lost touch with reality.

McDonnell took office in November 2024, after several years of upheaval in LA — the George Floyd riots, the crime wave, the vaccine mandates that decimated the force.

McDonnell faced a new challenge in navigating the tension between City Hall and the White House, as President Donald Trump directed a surge in immigration enforcement to seal the border.

As a “sanctuary” city in a “sanctuary” state, LA had decided not to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The LAPD could not keep ICE out, but was restricted in how it could cooperate with the federal agency.

One member of the City Council who had confidence in McDonnell was Nithya Raman. She joined the majority in voting to approve Karen Bass’s appointment of the new chief, earning a rebuke from her own Democratic Socialists of America chapter.

So how has McDonnell done?

Crime is down — dramatically down — with the fewest homicides in LA since 1966. (For reference, that’s several years before the Manson murders.)

It’s true that crime is down across the nation as well. So maybe McDonnell doesn’t deserve all the credit. 

But he’s managed the tension between local and federal priorities very carefully. 

Raman complains that McDonnell has worked with ICE. 

Maybe he has, where necessary, to protect federal officials from rioters. 

But he’s also refused to allow the LAPD to become involved in immigration enforcement itself.

McDonnell also pushed back against the Trump administration when it tried to bring the National Guard to LA to restore calm, earning criticism from law-and-order conservatives. 

Raman told supporters on Sunday that she does not “believe that [McDonnell’s] response to the ICE raids on our streets have met the moment.”

What was he supposed to do — let rioters assault federal officers and attack government buildings?

Imagine if that had actually happened. Trump not only would have brought in the National Guard, but would have faced less resistance from the judiciary.

Note that Raman was drinking cocktails during the ICE raids, according to The California Post.

Raman’s behavior then hardly “met the moment.” Nor do her sensational promises today, which can only undermine morale in the LAPD.