The role of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station has been a subject of public discourse in recent years. (photo by Edwin Folven)

The West Hollywood Public Safety Commission received public input and debated the feasibility of West Hollywood creating its own police department during its March 13 meeting. Ultimately, the commission recommended not move forward at this time with a West Hollywood force, although the City Council may make a further determination on the matter at a later date. A proposed police department would replace the current service by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in the city.

Since the George Floyd protests of summer 2020, West Hollywood has been at the center of the discussions on police funding. In June 2022, the City Council agreed to cut a net four deputies from the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station. This followed controversy with former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who was not reelected and was succeeded by Sheriff Robert Luna in December.

“It’s great to be finally working with a partner like Sheriff Luna who has been actively engaging with and ensuring West Hollywood is a priority not only for our city and residents but also how we can continue to partner together to make L.A. County safer as a whole,” Mayor Pro Tempore John Erickson said.

The intended purpose of the meeting was to get community input and select a qualified consulting firm to review West Hollywood’s current law enforcement contract and the feasibility of the city starting its own municipal police department. As the meeting dragged on, however, the viability of creating a department at all became central to the conversation.

Details that divided the commission included the price tag for hiring a firm to conduct the feasibility study, which commissioner Robert Oliver said was financially impractical. He also said that the large financial investment for a police department would cut into the budget for important resources in the city.

“I certainly understand why there has been a desire for our own police department in West Hollywood, but we simply don’t have money in our budget for it,” Oliver said. “Other cities allocate many times what ours do per capita for law enforcement in order to maintain their own police departments. Our city is 1.89 square miles, which is why it has always made more sense to contract out city services like road work, tree trimming, parking enforcement, water and power, and public safety.”

Of the city’s $27.8 million public safety department budget, currently $22.3 million is allocated to the sheriff’s department.

There was also debate over which of several proposed firms might be employed for the feasibility study. Matrix Consulting Group was one possibilities, but members of the public and Commissioner Jackie Steele took issue with an alleged lack of LGBTQ+ members of the firm.

“All of the individuals listed are, I assume, cis men. Five out of the six men are white men … there’s no gender diversity,” Steele said.

While preferred alternatives, like the Maroon Society, were discussed, the cost of any firm was deemed too high by the commission. Steele also said that the proposals submitted to the commission did not take into consideration recommendations from the city’s Social Justice Task force.

“We are missing intersectionality in our work and lacking in representation for all of our community,” she said. “This city was founded to be a safe space for queer/LGBTQ people, and I believe we have lost our queer lens. With so many current anti-LGBTQ Bills, it’s imperative that we do not forget our history, and we must all fight for our future … West Hollywood has a responsibility to continue to be a leader in this work, and that applies to every single area of work the city does.

Councilman John Heilman, who was also on the council over two decades ago when similar discussions occurred, said he did not think that a police force was a good use of city resources.

“I don’t think we should start our own police department, and I don’t think we should spend a lot of money on a study. I think we should focus on improving the service we have. I also think we need to focus on making West Hollywood safer,” he said.