December 17, 2025 • 30 mins
With the Olympics fast approaching, Gary & Shannon ask the big question: is Los Angeles truly ready? They break down growing concerns over city preparedness, including backlash aimed at Mayor Karen Bass for her response during recent fires.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell joins the show to discuss the department’s staffing shortages, how a manpower deficit impacts Olympic security planning, and the managing of multiple high-profile cases that have dominated headlines in recent months.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app. Nick Reiner did appear in court
today charged with killing his parents. As you heard from
DA Nathan Hakman yesterday afternoon right here on KFI. He
appeared in court for the first time since the murders.
He was seated behind glass in Department thirty that's where
(00:23):
everyone is arraigned downtown at the Criminal Courts Building. It
was a very brief appearance. He did not enter a plea.
His arraignment was continued till January seventh, so he will
be held without bail. He was wearing a suicide prevention
smock in the courtroom of blue. He has been charged
with two counts first degree murder, special circumstance allegation of
(00:44):
multiple murders. Also faces a special allegation that he used
a knife that is especially dangerous in the eyes of
the law. His attorney told the court that it's too
early for Nick to enter a plea. He said the
defense and the prosecutors were in agreement on pushing back
the arraignment until next month. Two other lawyers appeared with Jackson.
(01:05):
He's got a team and Nick Reiner. This morning, they're
in Department thirty at CCB.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
President Trump said that he's ordering a total and complete
blockade of sanctioned oil tankers that come to and leave
from Venezuela, so that ratchets up some more pressure against
the Meduro regime. He punctuated the words total and complete
blockade in capital letters, which means it's a super strong blockade,
suggested that more could be coming. He took aim at
(01:35):
Maduro specifically, and he also suggested that Venezuela should give
up land, oil and assets to the United States. Which
is clear that this military campaign is more than just fentanyl.
It is a where you're at Wednesday, Garyan Shannon, This
has Brock from the beautiful Oak city of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
There are things that I.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Did love about La and you.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Gary and Shannon topped the My.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Husband and I have been listening to you for over
twenty six years.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
I know we don't live where you've never heard of.
We live in Lake Los Angeles.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
I'm not walking my dogs.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
I listen to your show sounds every single day.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Wait, hey, guys, this is Mike from Dripping Springs, Texas.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
What and you're going?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Where the heck is that?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, it's just south of Austin, Texas. It's only thirty
minutes away. We moved here two years ago from Oregon.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I am in Quartelaine, Idaho, and I listen to you
guys every day out in my shop.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Let us know where you're listening to the show from
today on this where you're at Wednesday. You can either
send us an email gasbag at iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
You can let us know on socials.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You can also leave us that talkback message while you're
listening on the app.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, we'll take a break for some good here. Heather
Brooker from KFI News is out at the Giving Machine,
one of the giving machines posted around southern California. We
were first introduced to these at the pastathon. I bought
a sheep, I believe for a family and the Middle
East to use for milk and cheese. I don't know,
I'm not really sure, but Heather Brooker, there's a number
(03:06):
of charities so you can support this holiday season at
the Giving Machine.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
How are you hi?
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Good morning friends. It's very festive out here at the
outlets at San Clementy. They've got the Christmas music piping
through all the shops and I'm here at the absolutely
cutest setup here for these light of the world give machines.
There's actually two of them here, flanked by a couple
of adorable Christmas trees right down from the gap. If
(03:34):
you want to come see me, and I'm going to
be here for a couple of hours or so this morning.
If people come by and the give a donation to
Katerina's Club, I have some special swag that I want
to pass along to you for your generosity. So you're right.
There's a lot of organizations that you can donate to
you through the giving machines, THEIRS, Therapy Dog, Their's Spiritual Care,
(03:57):
pain management, but the main ones we are excited about
is Katerina's Club. With KFI and the Pastason, people can
buy fresh produce, five healthy meals, ten hot lunches. You
can even get an educational scholarship to donate to somebody,
and housing assistance. You know. I know you guys have
talked about Pasamon a lot. It's a really special partnership
(04:17):
that we do with Katerina's Club, and so I'm just
excited to be out here, guys. I'm I got my
hot chocolate. I'm excited to be out of the newsroom
and talking to people can be a good morning.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Can you give us a little more detail about what
special gifts people get if they if they donate to
Katerina's Club where you're standing there over their shoulder pressuring
them to give donations.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Are you giving hugs yet?
Speaker 5 (04:42):
What?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Now?
Speaker 5 (04:43):
That's that's a lot. That's gonna have to be a
big ticket item donation there. Well, I will be hovering
over people for sure, going pick the most extensive one.
But what I have are some some somethings ding dong
coins from that say ding dong.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, what do you do with that?
Speaker 5 (05:08):
I guess you Maybe you can just frame it, flip it.
You know your friends rub it down. It's not gonna
flip it, rub it down. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Okay, this is I.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Don't want to. I don't go there because you know
I will.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
But yeah, we've got to.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
We've got some. Katerina Club has some other special gifts
that are sweet. Michelle Q but gave me to pass
out through the KFI listeners today and yeah, bend joy,
that's what their slogan is here bend Joyce. Like a
big vending machine, you make your selection and as you said,
you I remember you bought a sheep or you I
(05:44):
feel like you bought a sheep. You did not, you
donated to the sheep.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
It's much more fun to say I bought a sheep
out of a vending machine.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Brings with it some specific images. Again, Heather Brooker live
out there at the San Clementy Outlets at the giving machine,
which is just down from the gap. Go out, say hi,
give to Katerina's Club. She's got a little present for you, Heather.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Thanks guys, great great too.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
There's a couple other places by the way.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You can find those giving machines through the end of December,
the Tyler Mall in Riverside out in front of Macy's
Old Town San Diego at the Twiggs Street parking Lot
C and then the Grove in La And specifically the
one at the Grove is the only one that actually
has fire recovery related charities.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
If you wanted to give to that as well.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
But it's an opportunity for you to give again or
still to Katerina's Club.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Did you know that Dripping Springs, Texas is the wedding
capital of Texas.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
That I did not know. Now we know.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
That's one of the benefits of Where you at Wednesday?
We find fun facts about wherever you let us know
you're listening from Dripping Springs is just the beginning.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
The La Times is going after Karen Bass in an
unusually for them, an unusually targeted way. We'll talk about
this front page article about the LA mayor we come back.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
LAPD Chief Jim McDonald will be joining us coming up
after the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Busy week for the chief here.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
He has been very active on the press conference circuit.
We saw him with the FBI on Monday, yesterday with
JA Nathan Hawkman serve surrounding the terrorist threat on Monday
that was thwarted, terrorist threat to a group of people
wanted to bomb a bunch of places on New Year's Eve.
And then yesterday, of course, the DA announcing charges for
(07:46):
Nick Reiner for killing his parents there in Brentwood.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
It is where are you at Wednesday? Hi, Garyan Channon.
I am an avid listener I'm also an avid walker
out in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. Hi, Gary
and Shannon, this is Julie listening from Lincoln, Nebraska every morning.
Keep up the good work, Gugary and Shannon.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
I'm listening to you as a California expatriot in my
basement office in Fargo, North Dakota.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Hey, this is Mark.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I'm listening to you in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Have a good day, Cleveland. That's a new one for me.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Fun fact about Benson, Arizona primarily known for Kartschner Cavern
State Park, a live cave with growing formations. It's a
historical railroad town. By the way Cowboy Experiences. You can
go to the Mescal movie set where Westerns were filmed.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
That sounds like fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
And the Thing Museum, the Thing Museum, the Thing Museum,
the movie but the movie the Thing.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Yeah. Let us know where you are listening to the show.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I'd like to do your Jeopardy question now because it
involves some geography. Places to see sea is in quotations
for one thousand dollars. This mountain range stretches from the
Black Seed to the Caspian.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Sea the Caucasus.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yes, I was going to say the cacucus.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Is that not it? It's just caucus.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I was going to say cacucus, because look how it's spelled,
the caucus, not just caucus.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Right, it's a cacucus. How do you say it this
mountain range? Would you say caucus? You say caucus. Cook.
I'm just starting to see how many times I can
say it.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
I know.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
The La Times as a front page article today, the
headline for La Mayor a year of false starts. Oh,
a Palisades recovery marked by missteps, reversals and delays. By
the way, she just announced that she's running for reelection.
This is this is a very pointed look at how
(09:57):
awful the city of LA's respon bonce was to the Palisades.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Fine, you want to go with false starts, I'd go
with illegal hands to the face. I'd go with personal
fouls roughing the pass. I mean, she's guilty of a
lot of penalties this year.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, the false start is a minor one. Yeah, compared
to all the five yard I mean, you just getting
into this thing. Since January seventh, since the fire destroyed
thousands of homes, and again, this is the writing in
the La Times, Bass has announced right. Sorry, Bass has
been announcing recovery strategies with great fanfare, only for them
to get bogged down in the details or abandoned altogether.
(10:32):
And then they go through an entire list of things
that she's done. She called for the removal of the
traffic check points of the Palisades, only to reverse course.
She pushed tax relief for wildfire victims in Sacramento, and
then abruptly pulled the plug on her own bill. Her
relationship with Steve soberf Remember he was going to be
this recoveries are quickly unraveled over the fact that he
was getting paid. He left after ninety days. He, by
(10:55):
the way, takes a couple shots at her as well,
voiced frustration with the job, saying that he'd been excluded
from a bunch of key decisions. Don't make me the
don't make me the recoveries are if I don't have
a seat at the table. At one point, she that's
mayor Bass narrowed his duties, telling reporters that he would
focus were primarily on real rebuilding the historic business district
(11:18):
and the nearby public areas.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I mean, she's fed police and she's ft fire. I
don't know if that's the that's the true story. We
got the LAPD chief coming in. I don't know if
you'll touch on that, but that's certainly the optics. She
went after the fire department for her failure to be
on guard when she got the forecast that those wins
and those dangerous conditions were moving in.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
She left the country.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And then she goes after the fire chief and completely
publicly sam bags her. And now she's cut the police
budget to within an inch of its life, to where
it's not even going to have an academy class.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I mean, the optics.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Of those two things alone, those aren't even into the weeds.
Those aren't even for city hall watchers or people going
line by line of every budgetary mishap, all of that crime.
That is just basic what you do as a mayor
for your city to make sure the police and the
fire are funded and they're able to do their job
(12:18):
and do it well. And she has fed those two
things up. At least those are the optics.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
The whole thing about the lack of now lack of recoveries,
are she instead of having one point person in charge
of it, which arguably is a job that's even bigger
than what the mayor would be doing alone. The mayor
has to oversee this city of five million people, four
million people, whatever it is, but the specific recovery of
(12:45):
the most devastating wildfire in the history of the country
is arguably bigger than the job of the mayor herself.
So it would make sense to have somebody come in
for her to appoint somebody and say, you're great at this,
we need somebody to coordinate this. I still have to
run the city, even though part of running the city
is making sure the Palisades gets rebuilt to whatever degree.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
It looks like. She decided to go with a trio
of consultants. And then when you say the word consultant,
all I hear is money. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And when you say a trio, all I hear is
an FNU to the taxpayers because that's three times the money.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Or it's three friends that she means politics.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Right, So there was also concern about who who's going
to take over. I mean Rick Caruso is quoted in
this article suggesting that we still do need a recoveries
are given the size of the task at hand, And listen,
I don't know if This is enough to push him
back into the race to run again for mayor or.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
If he decides he's got his sights on the governor
on higher things, which would be governor. Yeah, we'll see.
I think he's done with the whole mayor thing. I
don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It's been a slow he's been moving slowly or quietly,
shall we say, moving quietly?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
LAPD Chief Jim McDonald expected to come in next when
we continue.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Of course, are a big story today. Nick Reiner set
to make his first court appearance. They've decided to push
the arrayment back until the first week of January, of course,
charged with the murders of his parents, fillmaker Rob Reiner
and his wife Michelle, President Trump is set to address
the nation tonight. The White House not yet exactly said
what the topic is going to be. The President lately
(14:34):
has been talking about his idea of sending one time
rebate checks two thousand dollars rebate checks to a bunch
of families in the United States. He says that the
money would be collected from sweeping global tariffs. Again, no
specifics yet on what this address is tonight, but at
six o'clock you'll hear it right here on KFI.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Well, we are honored to have LAPD Chief Jim McDonald
here to join us today. I don't know how you
did it, Chief, You have had a busy week. You see,
we've got TVs all over this room and you've been
all over them. Monday, you were there for the press
conference with the FBI with that terror plot that was thwarted.
It looks like four jackasses, for lack of a better word,
(15:13):
we're going to or try to bomb several locations on
New Year's Eve in Los Angeles. FBI and LAPD sheriffs
thwarted that. And then yesterday you're with the DA who's
announcing first degree murder charges with special circumstances against Nick Reiner.
We thank you for taking the time out of obviously
a very busy week to join us. And another hope,
(15:35):
high profile case that your department has been working very
hard on is, of course, the Celeste Reevas murder, the
girl that was found dead in the Tesla back in
I want to say, early fall September or something like that.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
And so you have a lot on your plate going on?
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
By the way, you know when you get you get
a call in the middle of the night, we got
to have you here tomorrow. We got this is going on?
Does your phone ever stop ringing? Do you keep it
on silent? How does the batphone work in your home?
Speaker 6 (16:07):
To keep it next to me on the nightstand, But
I never keep it on silent. It can go off anytime,
it seems. The big things usually happen in the middle
of the night. Our officers are out there twenty four
to seven interacting with the public, so time doesn't make
a whole lot of difference. As far as notifications on things.
(16:28):
I want to know what's going on and not have
to find out about it later. But we do have
a screening system that is much more humane than it
used to be in days past as far as people
taking the calls and screening them and then making the
appropriate notifications. Some can wait till seven in the morning
and others you need to know when it happens.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
We're talking about your robbery homicide detectives just moments ago
about how the work they did in the middle of
the night on this Reiner case, how they were able
to catch up with them at the gas station. The
report was five hours after the murders were called in
from the home in Brent. Would how they were able
to go and find out that he stayed in a
hotel in Santa Monica make entrance into that room. That
(17:15):
is just good solid I think you referred to it yesterday.
Good solid police work, and so quickly. I know that
sometimes people expect police work to be done so quickly
like that be tied up with a nice little boat,
because that's what we see on the television. But that's
really great work they did in such a quick time
this week.
Speaker 6 (17:30):
Yeah, you know, they did a tremendous job, and they
are the best in the business. Homicide Special out of
RhD handle the case. They brought in Gang and Narcotics Division,
who was paired up with the US Marshall Service on
the Task Force to assist as well. They all work
very well together and they were able in this case
to be able to take the suspect in a custody
(17:50):
very quickly. The kind of work that's done day in
and day out. I wish we could get that out
to the public because I think they'd be very proud
of what's being done on their behalf.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
How do you make a decision to get those other
departments or the other agencies involved in a case like this.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I mean, obviously it's very high profile, so there's.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Gonna be a lot of eyeballs on this thing, and
a lot of eyeballs on the detectives and their work
that's involved. But how do you determine when other organizations
are involved?
Speaker 6 (18:18):
Yeah, within the LAPD, we used to have divisional detectives
that worked for the area captain broken down twenty one
different areas throughout the city. We did a reorg recently
where all of the homicide detectives in the city now
are part of Robbery Homicide Division, So the Captain of
URHD has the ability to be able to move people around,
(18:38):
assign people as needed dependent on the case, and all
the cases now go to OURHD. In the big sense,
Homicide special got this one, and they are the folks
who focus and specialize in incidents such as this. The
decisions made basically as things start to progress. The chief
of Detectives is involved, that chain of command is involved,
(18:59):
and ultimately they make the best call they can as
to what outside resources they need. We exhaust everything we
have in the department. First, when we're on task forces,
as I mentioned with the Marshalls, that's like all one
seamless team. And so we're blessed in LA that we
have tremendous federal, state, and local partnerships and we work
(19:20):
very closely together every day, and that I think will
work well for us as we move into the World
Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games ahead of us.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Before we get to that, because that's a big issue.
Are we ready for that? And your department is so
financially strapped right now, it's ridiculous. We heard in the
news that maybe not even an academy class what the
LAPD unheard of. A lot of people aren't paying attention
and they should in that regard Robbery Homicide division alone.
If you read the Harry Bosch novels, Michael Connolly, you've
(19:49):
seen heat, right, who.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Hasn't seen heat? You know this division.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
They are the best and the brightest and the most
hard working and the guys you do in gals you
do not want to mess around with.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
But they not escaped budget cuts. Well, we are hit with.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
These massive, high profile cases all the time in LA
specifically this week as well this season.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
Yeah, No, our core function is answering radio calls, calls
for help from the public. So we have to maintain
as robust a patrol force as we can to be
able to answer those calls. And when the budget's cut
and we're down fourteen hundred officers now to give context,
when we're fully deployed, we're at ten thousand sworn. That's
about half of what New York City has cop to
(20:30):
population ratio, and less than half of what Chicago has.
And so when you look at how lean we are
to begin with, and to think we're fourteen hundred down
from that, I had a budget authority to hire two
hundred and forty this year. We've done that. I'm asking
for an additional two forty. And that's the back and
forth you heard last week in council. Even if we
were able to get that full complement of four to eighty,
(20:52):
we're going to lose five to six hundred this year
to retirement other attrition.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
And so two years out.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
From the Olympics, we are very concerned as far as
being able to have sufficient resources to do it the
way we would love to be able to do it.
We will get the job done one way or the
other with the LAPD, and we will make it happen,
but certainly we'd like to have additional people be able
to focus and specialize. You mentioned robbery homicide is not
(21:19):
the size it used to be. None of our specialized
units or the size they used to be, and some
don't exist anymore. So my hope is as we start
to get healthy well, we'll be able to hire more
people and be able to fill out some of the
specialized units. There are units that we need to have,
robust cyber units for cybercrime, cyber terrorism and all of
(21:40):
the potential attacks.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
We could see a drone unit.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
We're building that out to be able to have drones
as a first responder, a tremendous tool there as well.
But a lot of the emerging threats we need to
be able to be. We're not going to be ahead
of it, but we need to be as up to
speed with it as we can.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Do.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You have an idea directly, when was the LAPD last
at its you know, at its maximum strength or at
least an acceptable level.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Yeah, twenty nineteen they were at one thousand and three
sworn officers. And to get to at the end of
this year, we could be down to eighty three hundred
and the last time we saw that was nineteen ninety five,
so thirty years ago.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Wow. I think just this.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Year alone, you're looking at a deficit of six hundred
jobs leaving in this year and that you have to
fight for two forty.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Is insane to me. I mean, how ass backwards.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Is that we're talking with LAPD Chief to McDonald. We
have trudging teller, we have company and.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
But we want to get right to it because Chief
Jim McDonald was so nice to take some time and
talk to us about what we talk about every day
here when it comes to the high profile cases that
the LAPD is confronted with off and in the middle
of the night as Chief was telling us, and we
touched on robbery homicide detectives and the great work that
they were able to do on capturing Nick Reiner within
(23:10):
hours of those bodies being discovered, and Brent would another
big case is I think leaving a lot of people
scratching their heads. The dead girl in the Teslas Les Reevas.
Here's a fourteen year old girl found dead in the trunk.
You've got an up and coming rap star who was
connected to her, and yet we've had no news. We
know that this went to a grand jury as well,
(23:33):
but it's been a little frustrating, I think for the
general public to get answers on this one.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
Chief Yeah, no, I understand the frustration, But the detectives
handling the case in the department, the posture has to
be preserved the integrity of the case over anything else.
As much as we want to be transparent what we do.
When you're dealing with murder cases, you have a system
to follow, and you want to make sure that you
don't do anything that would jeopardize the case long term.
(23:57):
You want to be able to hold whoever did the
these type of crimes to justice.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
And I think in that case in particular, everyone lawyered
up right away, which makes you be even more careful
with your investigation as detectives, in terms of you know,
you're going to get more out of being tight lipped
about your investigation, even if everyone in the world is
talking about it on every publication. Like you said, it's
all about the integrity of the investigation and sometimes when
(24:23):
information like like that or details slip out, then you're
putting the entire case on the line, and at the
end of the day, you want to put the guy
who's the murderer away.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
As the name of the game.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
And the absence of us putting out information, people fill
the vacuum with misinformation. We saw that in this case
where it was some pretty bizarre things been put out there.
We try and address those when it's so prevalent as
some of these were. But you know, the reality is
that generally speak and we try as much as we
try to be transparent, we also do everything we can
(24:58):
to preserve the ability of the detectives to put the
case together, presented to the DA and get a successful
filing and then follow up with a successful prosecutor.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
When you bring up just the idea of misinformation that's
out there to fill vacuums, and that's in your career
in law enforcement has changed drastically just in terms of
the speed with which this information can be can be spread.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
Yeah, you can't get in front of a story anymore.
By the time we get to the crime scene, by
the time, oftentimes the time the officers and the black
and whites get to the crime scene, it's already been
live broadcast on somebody's video from their iPhone, and you know,
the story gets out there, whether the story is accurate
or not, and then you're playing ketchup on that trying
(25:42):
to be able to parse what happened from what didn't
happen and who had the perspective that makes, you know,
makes sense.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
There have been different municipalities, different politicians that want to
get into the issue of law enforcement wearing masks.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Is that going to affects LAPED at all?
Speaker 6 (26:02):
Well, you know, yeah, you look at this and you
think where we were. We were penalizing officers for not
wearing masks post COVID, and now we're penalizing people potentially
for wearing masks. So I think we're not. We don't
wear masks at the LAPD. We get out there and
do the job. And yeah, our people take flack over it.
I see where the argument comes from for our federal
(26:25):
partners who have been docksed and their families exposed and
those kind of things. So there is a level of
concern there that is rational, but it does create a
level of anxiety within the community when you have people
wearing masks and you.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Don't know who they are.
Speaker 6 (26:41):
They may not be identifiable to a layperson on the street.
So certainly, I think the political response was to try
and alleviate some of that anxiety. But at the end
of the day, if there's if they are legitimate federal
agents in this case and they're doing their job, local
police are not going to win for some misdemeanor mask
(27:03):
violation for something like that.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
We've got the World Cup coming to town, We've got
the Olympics coming to town.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
All eyes on Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I love the Disney mute movie version of this where
everything is great and La looks wonderful, but we are
not staffed to secure these events.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Well, I shouldn't say that it'll you'll do.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
You'll do a great job regardless, But what is your
concern when it comes to securing massive events and different
locations throughout Los Angeles with all the world watching and
just knowing the way that criminals organize these days when
it comes to big events like this, and what is
your concern And has that been communicated to the mayor
(27:48):
into the city council.
Speaker 6 (27:50):
Yeah, the mayor is supportive of our hiring additional officers.
She's been pushing that the city council. There are some
members of the council who are supportive, there's other members
of the council who are not supportive of anything we do,
and then there's others where we can make our case
and hopefully win their votes over. They're in a very
difficult position now with the budget where it is a
billion dollar deficit going into this year. We have the
(28:11):
biggest part of the budget, so certainly we knew that
we were going to be cut back on that. But
I think in a place where we have taken on
the role of a host city for both the World
Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there's a duty
to be able to ensure that there are sufficient resources
to do that to the best degree possible. The LAPD
(28:33):
As I mentioned earlier, we have tremendous relationships with our federal, state,
and local partners, and that is a critical piece of
our ability to be able to police and ensure everybody
has an enjoyable and safe time at the games. Without that,
we would certainly be behind the eight ball. We will
end up doing it differently with fewer officers than we
(28:53):
would have otherwise done we'll end up bringing in people
from outside departments to be able to assist us, maybe
more than we otherwise would have done. These games are
spread out all over the region, so that creates a
challenge as far as transportation and a lot of the
the you know, support services that people really don't think about.
They have practice fields, practice arenas, they have a lot
(29:15):
of places, they have the housing. There's different countries have
special needs that others don't have, and so there's a
lot of moving parts. When you put together something like
this on a worldwide stage, everyone is evaluating everything you do.
And so we know, you know that we got to
bring our a game for that whole forty days that
(29:36):
we'll be dealing with the Olympic and Paralympic.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Games, and we will be ready.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
We will be able to do it, but we'll have
to do it differently than otherwise we would have We know.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
It's a busy week.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
We're absolutely blessed that you came in and hung out
with us, and we appreciate it, and we'll continue these
conversations because I mean, we've said I.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Could keep them hostage all day, I know, but I
don't think that would be a good idea for me.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
There's so much to talk.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
About, the one with the weapons. It's gonna be a
harder task than you, I think, Chief McDonald, thanks for
coming in. We greatly appreciate it. Gary and Shannon will
continue right after this. You've been listening to The Gary
and Shannon Show. You can always hear us live on
KFI AM six forty nine am to one pm every
Monday through Friday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio
(30:21):
ap
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app. Nick Reiner did appear in court
today charged with killing his parents. As you heard from
DA Nathan Hakman yesterday afternoon right here on KFI. He
appeared in court for the first time since the murders.
He was seated behind glass in Department thirty that's where
(00:23):
everyone is arraigned downtown at the Criminal Courts Building. It
was a very brief appearance. He did not enter a plea.
His arraignment was continued till January seventh, so he will
be held without bail. He was wearing a suicide prevention
smock in the courtroom of blue. He has been charged
with two counts first degree murder, special circumstance allegation of
(00:44):
multiple murders. Also faces a special allegation that he used
a knife that is especially dangerous in the eyes of
the law. His attorney told the court that it's too
early for Nick to enter a plea. He said the
defense and the prosecutors were in agreement on pushing back
the arraignment until next month. Two other lawyers appeared with Jackson.
(01:05):
He's got a team and Nick Reiner. This morning, they're
in Department thirty at CCB.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
President Trump said that he's ordering a total and complete
blockade of sanctioned oil tankers that come to and leave
from Venezuela, so that ratchets up some more pressure against
the Meduro regime. He punctuated the words total and complete
blockade in capital letters, which means it's a super strong blockade,
suggested that more could be coming. He took aim at
(01:35):
Maduro specifically, and he also suggested that Venezuela should give
up land, oil and assets to the United States. Which
is clear that this military campaign is more than just fentanyl.
It is a where you're at Wednesday, Garyan Shannon, This
has Brock from the beautiful Oak city of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
There are things that I.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Did love about La and you.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Gary and Shannon topped the My.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Husband and I have been listening to you for over
twenty six years.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
I know we don't live where you've never heard of.
We live in Lake Los Angeles.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
I'm not walking my dogs.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
I listen to your show sounds every single day.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Wait, hey, guys, this is Mike from Dripping Springs, Texas.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
What and you're going?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Where the heck is that?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, it's just south of Austin, Texas. It's only thirty
minutes away. We moved here two years ago from Oregon.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I am in Quartelaine, Idaho, and I listen to you
guys every day out in my shop.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Let us know where you're listening to the show from
today on this where you're at Wednesday. You can either
send us an email gasbag at iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
You can let us know on socials.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You can also leave us that talkback message while you're
listening on the app.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, we'll take a break for some good here. Heather
Brooker from KFI News is out at the Giving Machine,
one of the giving machines posted around southern California. We
were first introduced to these at the pastathon. I bought
a sheep, I believe for a family and the Middle
East to use for milk and cheese. I don't know,
I'm not really sure, but Heather Brooker, there's a number
(03:06):
of charities so you can support this holiday season at
the Giving Machine.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
How are you hi?
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Good morning friends. It's very festive out here at the
outlets at San Clementy. They've got the Christmas music piping
through all the shops and I'm here at the absolutely
cutest setup here for these light of the world give machines.
There's actually two of them here, flanked by a couple
of adorable Christmas trees right down from the gap. If
(03:34):
you want to come see me, and I'm going to
be here for a couple of hours or so this morning.
If people come by and the give a donation to
Katerina's Club, I have some special swag that I want
to pass along to you for your generosity. So you're right.
There's a lot of organizations that you can donate to
you through the giving machines, THEIRS, Therapy Dog, Their's Spiritual Care,
(03:57):
pain management, but the main ones we are excited about
is Katerina's Club. With KFI and the Pastason, people can
buy fresh produce, five healthy meals, ten hot lunches. You
can even get an educational scholarship to donate to somebody,
and housing assistance. You know. I know you guys have
talked about Pasamon a lot. It's a really special partnership
(04:17):
that we do with Katerina's Club, and so I'm just
excited to be out here, guys. I'm I got my
hot chocolate. I'm excited to be out of the newsroom
and talking to people can be a good morning.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Can you give us a little more detail about what
special gifts people get if they if they donate to
Katerina's Club where you're standing there over their shoulder pressuring
them to give donations.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Are you giving hugs yet?
Speaker 5 (04:42):
What?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Now?
Speaker 5 (04:43):
That's that's a lot. That's gonna have to be a
big ticket item donation there. Well, I will be hovering
over people for sure, going pick the most extensive one.
But what I have are some some somethings ding dong
coins from that say ding dong.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, what do you do with that?
Speaker 5 (05:08):
I guess you Maybe you can just frame it, flip it.
You know your friends rub it down. It's not gonna
flip it, rub it down. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Okay, this is I.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Don't want to. I don't go there because you know
I will.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
But yeah, we've got to.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
We've got some. Katerina Club has some other special gifts
that are sweet. Michelle Q but gave me to pass
out through the KFI listeners today and yeah, bend joy,
that's what their slogan is here bend Joyce. Like a
big vending machine, you make your selection and as you said,
you I remember you bought a sheep or you I
(05:44):
feel like you bought a sheep. You did not, you
donated to the sheep.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
It's much more fun to say I bought a sheep
out of a vending machine.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Brings with it some specific images. Again, Heather Brooker live
out there at the San Clementy Outlets at the giving machine,
which is just down from the gap. Go out, say hi,
give to Katerina's Club. She's got a little present for you, Heather.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Thanks guys, great great too.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
There's a couple other places by the way.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You can find those giving machines through the end of December,
the Tyler Mall in Riverside out in front of Macy's
Old Town San Diego at the Twiggs Street parking Lot
C and then the Grove in La And specifically the
one at the Grove is the only one that actually
has fire recovery related charities.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
If you wanted to give to that as well.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
But it's an opportunity for you to give again or
still to Katerina's Club.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Did you know that Dripping Springs, Texas is the wedding
capital of Texas.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
That I did not know. Now we know.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
That's one of the benefits of Where you at Wednesday?
We find fun facts about wherever you let us know
you're listening from Dripping Springs is just the beginning.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
The La Times is going after Karen Bass in an
unusually for them, an unusually targeted way. We'll talk about
this front page article about the LA mayor we come back.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
LAPD Chief Jim McDonald will be joining us coming up
after the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Busy week for the chief here.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
He has been very active on the press conference circuit.
We saw him with the FBI on Monday, yesterday with
JA Nathan Hawkman serve surrounding the terrorist threat on Monday
that was thwarted, terrorist threat to a group of people
wanted to bomb a bunch of places on New Year's Eve.
And then yesterday, of course, the DA announcing charges for
(07:46):
Nick Reiner for killing his parents there in Brentwood.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
It is where are you at Wednesday? Hi, Garyan Channon.
I am an avid listener I'm also an avid walker
out in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. Hi, Gary
and Shannon, this is Julie listening from Lincoln, Nebraska every morning.
Keep up the good work, Gugary and Shannon.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
I'm listening to you as a California expatriot in my
basement office in Fargo, North Dakota.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Hey, this is Mark.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I'm listening to you in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Have a good day, Cleveland. That's a new one for me.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Fun fact about Benson, Arizona primarily known for Kartschner Cavern
State Park, a live cave with growing formations. It's a
historical railroad town. By the way Cowboy Experiences. You can
go to the Mescal movie set where Westerns were filmed.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
That sounds like fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
And the Thing Museum, the Thing Museum, the Thing Museum,
the movie but the movie the Thing.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Yeah. Let us know where you are listening to the show.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
I'd like to do your Jeopardy question now because it
involves some geography. Places to see sea is in quotations
for one thousand dollars. This mountain range stretches from the
Black Seed to the Caspian.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Sea the Caucasus.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yes, I was going to say the cacucus.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Is that not it? It's just caucus.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I was going to say cacucus, because look how it's spelled,
the caucus, not just caucus.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Right, it's a cacucus. How do you say it this
mountain range? Would you say caucus? You say caucus. Cook.
I'm just starting to see how many times I can
say it.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
I know.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
The La Times as a front page article today, the
headline for La Mayor a year of false starts. Oh,
a Palisades recovery marked by missteps, reversals and delays. By
the way, she just announced that she's running for reelection.
This is this is a very pointed look at how
(09:57):
awful the city of LA's respon bonce was to the Palisades.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Fine, you want to go with false starts, I'd go
with illegal hands to the face. I'd go with personal
fouls roughing the pass. I mean, she's guilty of a
lot of penalties this year.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, the false start is a minor one. Yeah, compared
to all the five yard I mean, you just getting
into this thing. Since January seventh, since the fire destroyed
thousands of homes, and again, this is the writing in
the La Times, Bass has announced right. Sorry, Bass has
been announcing recovery strategies with great fanfare, only for them
to get bogged down in the details or abandoned altogether.
(10:32):
And then they go through an entire list of things
that she's done. She called for the removal of the
traffic check points of the Palisades, only to reverse course.
She pushed tax relief for wildfire victims in Sacramento, and
then abruptly pulled the plug on her own bill. Her
relationship with Steve soberf Remember he was going to be
this recoveries are quickly unraveled over the fact that he
was getting paid. He left after ninety days. He, by
(10:55):
the way, takes a couple shots at her as well,
voiced frustration with the job, saying that he'd been excluded
from a bunch of key decisions. Don't make me the
don't make me the recoveries are if I don't have
a seat at the table. At one point, she that's
mayor Bass narrowed his duties, telling reporters that he would
focus were primarily on real rebuilding the historic business district
(11:18):
and the nearby public areas.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I mean, she's fed police and she's ft fire. I
don't know if that's the that's the true story. We
got the LAPD chief coming in. I don't know if
you'll touch on that, but that's certainly the optics. She
went after the fire department for her failure to be
on guard when she got the forecast that those wins
and those dangerous conditions were moving in.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
She left the country.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And then she goes after the fire chief and completely
publicly sam bags her. And now she's cut the police
budget to within an inch of its life, to where
it's not even going to have an academy class.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I mean, the optics.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Of those two things alone, those aren't even into the weeds.
Those aren't even for city hall watchers or people going
line by line of every budgetary mishap, all of that crime.
That is just basic what you do as a mayor
for your city to make sure the police and the
fire are funded and they're able to do their job
(12:18):
and do it well. And she has fed those two
things up. At least those are the optics.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
The whole thing about the lack of now lack of recoveries,
are she instead of having one point person in charge
of it, which arguably is a job that's even bigger
than what the mayor would be doing alone. The mayor
has to oversee this city of five million people, four
million people, whatever it is, but the specific recovery of
(12:45):
the most devastating wildfire in the history of the country
is arguably bigger than the job of the mayor herself.
So it would make sense to have somebody come in
for her to appoint somebody and say, you're great at this,
we need somebody to coordinate this. I still have to
run the city, even though part of running the city
is making sure the Palisades gets rebuilt to whatever degree.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
It looks like. She decided to go with a trio
of consultants. And then when you say the word consultant,
all I hear is money. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And when you say a trio, all I hear is
an FNU to the taxpayers because that's three times the money.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Or it's three friends that she means politics.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Right, So there was also concern about who who's going
to take over. I mean Rick Caruso is quoted in
this article suggesting that we still do need a recoveries
are given the size of the task at hand, And listen,
I don't know if This is enough to push him
back into the race to run again for mayor or.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
If he decides he's got his sights on the governor
on higher things, which would be governor. Yeah, we'll see.
I think he's done with the whole mayor thing. I
don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It's been a slow he's been moving slowly or quietly,
shall we say, moving quietly?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
LAPD Chief Jim McDonald expected to come in next when
we continue.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Of course, are a big story today. Nick Reiner set
to make his first court appearance. They've decided to push
the arrayment back until the first week of January, of course,
charged with the murders of his parents, fillmaker Rob Reiner
and his wife Michelle, President Trump is set to address
the nation tonight. The White House not yet exactly said
what the topic is going to be. The President lately
(14:34):
has been talking about his idea of sending one time
rebate checks two thousand dollars rebate checks to a bunch
of families in the United States. He says that the
money would be collected from sweeping global tariffs. Again, no
specifics yet on what this address is tonight, but at
six o'clock you'll hear it right here on KFI.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Well, we are honored to have LAPD Chief Jim McDonald
here to join us today. I don't know how you
did it, Chief, You have had a busy week. You see,
we've got TVs all over this room and you've been
all over them. Monday, you were there for the press
conference with the FBI with that terror plot that was thwarted.
It looks like four jackasses, for lack of a better word,
(15:13):
we're going to or try to bomb several locations on
New Year's Eve in Los Angeles. FBI and LAPD sheriffs
thwarted that. And then yesterday you're with the DA who's
announcing first degree murder charges with special circumstances against Nick Reiner.
We thank you for taking the time out of obviously
a very busy week to join us. And another hope,
(15:35):
high profile case that your department has been working very
hard on is, of course, the Celeste Reevas murder, the
girl that was found dead in the Tesla back in
I want to say, early fall September or something like that.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
And so you have a lot on your plate going on?
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
By the way, you know when you get you get
a call in the middle of the night, we got
to have you here tomorrow. We got this is going on?
Does your phone ever stop ringing? Do you keep it
on silent? How does the batphone work in your home?
Speaker 6 (16:07):
To keep it next to me on the nightstand, But
I never keep it on silent. It can go off anytime,
it seems. The big things usually happen in the middle
of the night. Our officers are out there twenty four
to seven interacting with the public, so time doesn't make
a whole lot of difference. As far as notifications on things.
(16:28):
I want to know what's going on and not have
to find out about it later. But we do have
a screening system that is much more humane than it
used to be in days past as far as people
taking the calls and screening them and then making the
appropriate notifications. Some can wait till seven in the morning
and others you need to know when it happens.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
We're talking about your robbery homicide detectives just moments ago
about how the work they did in the middle of
the night on this Reiner case, how they were able
to catch up with them at the gas station. The
report was five hours after the murders were called in
from the home in Brent. Would how they were able
to go and find out that he stayed in a
hotel in Santa Monica make entrance into that room. That
(17:15):
is just good solid I think you referred to it yesterday.
Good solid police work, and so quickly. I know that
sometimes people expect police work to be done so quickly
like that be tied up with a nice little boat,
because that's what we see on the television. But that's
really great work they did in such a quick time
this week.
Speaker 6 (17:30):
Yeah, you know, they did a tremendous job, and they
are the best in the business. Homicide Special out of
RhD handle the case. They brought in Gang and Narcotics Division,
who was paired up with the US Marshall Service on
the Task Force to assist as well. They all work
very well together and they were able in this case
to be able to take the suspect in a custody
(17:50):
very quickly. The kind of work that's done day in
and day out. I wish we could get that out
to the public because I think they'd be very proud
of what's being done on their behalf.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
How do you make a decision to get those other
departments or the other agencies involved in a case like this.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I mean, obviously it's very high profile, so there's.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Gonna be a lot of eyeballs on this thing, and
a lot of eyeballs on the detectives and their work
that's involved. But how do you determine when other organizations
are involved?
Speaker 6 (18:18):
Yeah, within the LAPD, we used to have divisional detectives
that worked for the area captain broken down twenty one
different areas throughout the city. We did a reorg recently
where all of the homicide detectives in the city now
are part of Robbery Homicide Division, So the Captain of
URHD has the ability to be able to move people around,
(18:38):
assign people as needed dependent on the case, and all
the cases now go to OURHD. In the big sense,
Homicide special got this one, and they are the folks
who focus and specialize in incidents such as this. The
decisions made basically as things start to progress. The chief
of Detectives is involved, that chain of command is involved,
(18:59):
and ultimately they make the best call they can as
to what outside resources they need. We exhaust everything we
have in the department. First, when we're on task forces,
as I mentioned with the Marshalls, that's like all one
seamless team. And so we're blessed in LA that we
have tremendous federal, state, and local partnerships and we work
(19:20):
very closely together every day, and that I think will
work well for us as we move into the World
Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games ahead of us.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Before we get to that, because that's a big issue.
Are we ready for that? And your department is so
financially strapped right now, it's ridiculous. We heard in the
news that maybe not even an academy class what the
LAPD unheard of. A lot of people aren't paying attention
and they should in that regard Robbery Homicide division alone.
If you read the Harry Bosch novels, Michael Connolly, you've
(19:49):
seen heat, right, who.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Hasn't seen heat? You know this division.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
They are the best and the brightest and the most
hard working and the guys you do in gals you
do not want to mess around with.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
But they not escaped budget cuts. Well, we are hit with.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
These massive, high profile cases all the time in LA
specifically this week as well this season.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
Yeah, No, our core function is answering radio calls, calls
for help from the public. So we have to maintain
as robust a patrol force as we can to be
able to answer those calls. And when the budget's cut
and we're down fourteen hundred officers now to give context,
when we're fully deployed, we're at ten thousand sworn. That's
about half of what New York City has cop to
(20:30):
population ratio, and less than half of what Chicago has.
And so when you look at how lean we are
to begin with, and to think we're fourteen hundred down
from that, I had a budget authority to hire two
hundred and forty this year. We've done that. I'm asking
for an additional two forty. And that's the back and
forth you heard last week in council. Even if we
were able to get that full complement of four to eighty,
(20:52):
we're going to lose five to six hundred this year
to retirement other attrition.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
And so two years out.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
From the Olympics, we are very concerned as far as
being able to have sufficient resources to do it the
way we would love to be able to do it.
We will get the job done one way or the
other with the LAPD, and we will make it happen,
but certainly we'd like to have additional people be able
to focus and specialize. You mentioned robbery homicide is not
(21:19):
the size it used to be. None of our specialized
units or the size they used to be, and some
don't exist anymore. So my hope is as we start
to get healthy well, we'll be able to hire more
people and be able to fill out some of the
specialized units. There are units that we need to have,
robust cyber units for cybercrime, cyber terrorism and all of
(21:40):
the potential attacks.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
We could see a drone unit.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
We're building that out to be able to have drones
as a first responder, a tremendous tool there as well.
But a lot of the emerging threats we need to
be able to be. We're not going to be ahead
of it, but we need to be as up to
speed with it as we can.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Do.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You have an idea directly, when was the LAPD last
at its you know, at its maximum strength or at
least an acceptable level.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
Yeah, twenty nineteen they were at one thousand and three
sworn officers. And to get to at the end of
this year, we could be down to eighty three hundred
and the last time we saw that was nineteen ninety five,
so thirty years ago.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Wow. I think just this.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Year alone, you're looking at a deficit of six hundred
jobs leaving in this year and that you have to
fight for two forty.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Is insane to me. I mean, how ass backwards.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Is that we're talking with LAPD Chief to McDonald. We
have trudging teller, we have company and.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
But we want to get right to it because Chief
Jim McDonald was so nice to take some time and
talk to us about what we talk about every day
here when it comes to the high profile cases that
the LAPD is confronted with off and in the middle
of the night as Chief was telling us, and we
touched on robbery homicide detectives and the great work that
they were able to do on capturing Nick Reiner within
(23:10):
hours of those bodies being discovered, and Brent would another
big case is I think leaving a lot of people
scratching their heads. The dead girl in the Teslas Les Reevas.
Here's a fourteen year old girl found dead in the trunk.
You've got an up and coming rap star who was
connected to her, and yet we've had no news. We
know that this went to a grand jury as well,
(23:33):
but it's been a little frustrating, I think for the
general public to get answers on this one.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
Chief Yeah, no, I understand the frustration, But the detectives
handling the case in the department, the posture has to
be preserved the integrity of the case over anything else.
As much as we want to be transparent what we do.
When you're dealing with murder cases, you have a system
to follow, and you want to make sure that you
don't do anything that would jeopardize the case long term.
(23:57):
You want to be able to hold whoever did the
these type of crimes to justice.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
And I think in that case in particular, everyone lawyered
up right away, which makes you be even more careful
with your investigation as detectives, in terms of you know,
you're going to get more out of being tight lipped
about your investigation, even if everyone in the world is
talking about it on every publication. Like you said, it's
all about the integrity of the investigation and sometimes when
(24:23):
information like like that or details slip out, then you're
putting the entire case on the line, and at the
end of the day, you want to put the guy
who's the murderer away.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
As the name of the game.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
And the absence of us putting out information, people fill
the vacuum with misinformation. We saw that in this case
where it was some pretty bizarre things been put out there.
We try and address those when it's so prevalent as
some of these were. But you know, the reality is
that generally speak and we try as much as we
try to be transparent, we also do everything we can
(24:58):
to preserve the ability of the detectives to put the
case together, presented to the DA and get a successful
filing and then follow up with a successful prosecutor.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
When you bring up just the idea of misinformation that's
out there to fill vacuums, and that's in your career
in law enforcement has changed drastically just in terms of
the speed with which this information can be can be spread.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
Yeah, you can't get in front of a story anymore.
By the time we get to the crime scene, by
the time, oftentimes the time the officers and the black
and whites get to the crime scene, it's already been
live broadcast on somebody's video from their iPhone, and you know,
the story gets out there, whether the story is accurate
or not, and then you're playing ketchup on that trying
(25:42):
to be able to parse what happened from what didn't
happen and who had the perspective that makes, you know,
makes sense.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
There have been different municipalities, different politicians that want to
get into the issue of law enforcement wearing masks.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Is that going to affects LAPED at all?
Speaker 6 (26:02):
Well, you know, yeah, you look at this and you
think where we were. We were penalizing officers for not
wearing masks post COVID, and now we're penalizing people potentially
for wearing masks. So I think we're not. We don't
wear masks at the LAPD. We get out there and
do the job. And yeah, our people take flack over it.
I see where the argument comes from for our federal
(26:25):
partners who have been docksed and their families exposed and
those kind of things. So there is a level of
concern there that is rational, but it does create a
level of anxiety within the community when you have people
wearing masks and you.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Don't know who they are.
Speaker 6 (26:41):
They may not be identifiable to a layperson on the street.
So certainly, I think the political response was to try
and alleviate some of that anxiety. But at the end
of the day, if there's if they are legitimate federal
agents in this case and they're doing their job, local
police are not going to win for some misdemeanor mask
(27:03):
violation for something like that.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
We've got the World Cup coming to town, We've got
the Olympics coming to town.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
All eyes on Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I love the Disney mute movie version of this where
everything is great and La looks wonderful, but we are
not staffed to secure these events.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Well, I shouldn't say that it'll you'll do.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
You'll do a great job regardless, But what is your
concern when it comes to securing massive events and different
locations throughout Los Angeles with all the world watching and
just knowing the way that criminals organize these days when
it comes to big events like this, and what is
your concern And has that been communicated to the mayor
(27:48):
into the city council.
Speaker 6 (27:50):
Yeah, the mayor is supportive of our hiring additional officers.
She's been pushing that the city council. There are some
members of the council who are supportive, there's other members
of the council who are not supportive of anything we do,
and then there's others where we can make our case
and hopefully win their votes over. They're in a very
difficult position now with the budget where it is a
billion dollar deficit going into this year. We have the
(28:11):
biggest part of the budget, so certainly we knew that
we were going to be cut back on that. But
I think in a place where we have taken on
the role of a host city for both the World
Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there's a duty
to be able to ensure that there are sufficient resources
to do that to the best degree possible. The LAPD
(28:33):
As I mentioned earlier, we have tremendous relationships with our federal, state,
and local partners, and that is a critical piece of
our ability to be able to police and ensure everybody
has an enjoyable and safe time at the games. Without that,
we would certainly be behind the eight ball. We will
end up doing it differently with fewer officers than we
(28:53):
would have otherwise done we'll end up bringing in people
from outside departments to be able to assist us, maybe
more than we otherwise would have done. These games are
spread out all over the region, so that creates a
challenge as far as transportation and a lot of the
the you know, support services that people really don't think about.
They have practice fields, practice arenas, they have a lot
(29:15):
of places, they have the housing. There's different countries have
special needs that others don't have, and so there's a
lot of moving parts. When you put together something like
this on a worldwide stage, everyone is evaluating everything you do.
And so we know, you know that we got to
bring our a game for that whole forty days that
(29:36):
we'll be dealing with the Olympic and Paralympic.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Games, and we will be ready.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
We will be able to do it, but we'll have
to do it differently than otherwise we would have We know.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
It's a busy week.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
We're absolutely blessed that you came in and hung out
with us, and we appreciate it, and we'll continue these
conversations because I mean, we've said I.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Could keep them hostage all day, I know, but I
don't think that would be a good idea for me.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
There's so much to talk.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
About, the one with the weapons. It's gonna be a
harder task than you, I think, Chief McDonald, thanks for
coming in. We greatly appreciate it. Gary and Shannon will
continue right after this. You've been listening to The Gary
and Shannon Show. You can always hear us live on
KFI AM six forty nine am to one pm every
Monday through Friday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio
(30:21):
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