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When Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman was asked recently about the ways the LAPD was falling short, she pointed out that the agency had stopped posting neighborhood-level crime statistics. The lack of data, she said, gives an incomplete picture of how safe the city is — and also undermines the public’s already shaky trust in police.

Her comments during a recent mayoral debate thrust the issue of police secrecy into the spotlight, while giving voice to a growing number of critics of LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell who argue that his department is moving in the wrong direction when it comes to transparency.

Frustration by neighborhood groups over the missing crime data has boiled over in recent weeks, thanks in part to Raman’s comments. But it also comes as free press advocates complain that the department’s responsiveness to public records requests has slowed, and as officers increasingly face accusations of targeting journalists in the field during protests.

When Mayor Karen Bass and LAPD officials were asked about the disappearing crime data at a news conference last week, a senior department official fielded the question and chalked it up to a “software issue,” which the department was working on and hoped to have resolved soon. A Bass spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

In an interview with KNX radio this week, McDonnell claimed that changes to internal policies and state law had made the LAPD more transparent today about its operations and functions than ever before.

McDonnell declined an interview request through a spokesperson on Friday.

“The Department remains committed to transparency and to keeping the public informed,” the spokesperson, Officer Jeff Lee, wrote in an email. “That includes public access to crime data, timely handling of California Public Records Act requests within available resources, and respect for the rights of members of the media covering public events.”

In the spring of 2025, roughly a year after the LAPD released thousands of police officer photos that it later tried to claw back, the department quietly stopped posting files released in response to public records requests, cutting off access to a trove of documents that were once available through the the city’s data portal. Department watchdogs have long argued that such records allow residents to evaluate how the LAPD and other agencies are performing.

Reports based on the investigations of police shootings and other serious uses of force that used to be released shortly after they were presented to the Police Commission, the LAPD’s civilian oversight body, now take months to be produced.

The department’s inability to respond to records requests in a timely fashion seems designed to defuse public outrage, critics argue; dragging out the time it takes to release records means that information becomes available long after most citizens have moved on, they contend. Activists routinely pack the Police Commission’s Tuesday meetings to decry what many refer to as “secret police.”

McDonnell has acknowledged delays in producing records, saying that the unit tasked with reviewing and releasing the information is “grossly understaffed.” But progress on filling some of these vacancies has been slow.

LAPD officials have said that a recent change to state law that now requires police departments to release more information about officer misconduct and cases that involve serious uses of force has placed additional burden on the unit. Adding to the backlog are prolific requesters who flood the department with complex and time-consuming inquiries, all of which have to undergo several levels of review to avoid the release of private data, they argue.

McDonnell has also come under fire for his officers’ behavior toward journalists during protests last year against President Trump’s immigration crackdown. In July 2025, a federal judge issued an order prohibiting LAPD officers from targeting media members with crowd-control weapons.

In the months since, media groups have denounced the department for continuing to violate the order, which has deepened the tensions between police leaders and the press. Since June 2025, the city has been hit with dozens of legal claims from protesters and journalists who claim that LAPD officers used excessive force against them.

Police officials have accused some independent journalists of behaving more like demonstrators than reporters, and argued that the use of less-lethal weapons was justified after officers were provoked or had their commands disobeyed in chaotic situations.

Press freedom advocates say that under McDonnell, the department’s relationship with the local news media has gotten increasingly strained.

McDonnell, some argue, has made himself available only to news outlets that provide favorable coverage of the department.

In more ways than one, McDonnell seems out of step with modern expectations around government transparency by a public that is increasingly wary of public institutions, said Adam Rose, a deputy director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Rose said he often disagreed with McDonnnell’s predecessor, Michel Moore, but that the former chief at least made himself accessible. Moore used to opine on national issues and occasionally tried to get in front of brewing controversies, Rose said, but he was also willing to hear out concerns about the treatment of journalists.

McDonnell, he said, hasn’t even bothered to give out his cellphone number.

“[Moore] had at least the courtesy and dignity to address groups speaking on behalf of journalists who while trying to cover the department were injured,” Rose said.

Last November, McDonnell abruptly ousted the department’s former top civilian spokesperson, Jennifer Forkish. Some of her duties were reportedly absorbed by Robert Port, a veteran documentary filmmaker with no PR experience whose own hiring was shrouded in secrecy. Port’s job proposal suggested that he was sought to use his Hollywood connections to help burnish the department’s battered public image.

Port told the news outlet L.A. Material that he was working on a reality show that promises to take viewers behind the scenes of patrolling the city’s streets. The department has sought $15,000 from the City Council to hire an outside law firm to represent the city with negotiations with a company called 44 Blue Productions LLC.

Forkish, the former spokesperson, told The Times that she has heard from journalists “here in Los Angeles and around the world who say they’re struggling to get responses to media inquiries and public records requests.”

“As an Angeleno, that concerns me,” she wrote in a text message. “Responding to the press is part of being accountable to the public, and transparency is essential to maintaining public trust.”

Attorneys who have sued the department, either on behalf of aggrieved officers or members of the public, argue that maintaining secrecy allows the LAPD to dismiss criticism on the grounds that outsiders don’t understand what’s happening.

“The LAPD has now evolved into an inward-facing organization.” said Jorja Leap, a professor of social welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. “It’s a pivotal moment. I still see people within the department working on community relations — I don’t want this to be a lost opportunity.”

As voters cast their ballots in the much anticipated midterms on Tuesday, TV networks will give their viewers a closer look at how the election sausage is made.

As usual, anchors and analysts will be at their network news desks when votes are counted to determine whether the Democrats can take the House and the Senate from Republicans for the final two years of President Trump’s second term, along with gubernatorial races across the country.

But TV news organizations are rolling out additional tools and options for viewers who want a more granular look at how the vote is counted and winners are declared, responding to a heightened interest in national politics and a demand for greater transparency in an age of media distrust.

“In the last few years, as we’ve seen incredibly close elections with higher turnout and tight political divides, people are understandably looking for more transparent ways to understand how and why elections turn out the way they do,” said Jennifer Agiesta, CNN’s vice president of election and data reporting innovation.

Chuck Todd, the former NBC News political director and “Meet the Press” moderator who was among the first analysts to do deeper dives into voting data on TV, compared the increased appetite to how viewers watch sporting events. Tighter races pull in more eyeballs, especially at a time when the electorate is deeply divided over Trump’s actions and polices.

“Do people sit and watch and want more things when things are blowouts, or do people want more information when it’s decided by a nose hair?” Todd said. “You can’t discount that this is a generation of political competitiveness that feels existential.”

Todd noted that in the 21st century, the House, Senate or White House has changed hands in 11 out of 13 elections, while all but one of the seven presidential contests have been won by less than five percentage points.

While NBC News is delivering an unprecedented 13 hours of midterm coverage to its affiliates, data junkies can see analyst Steve Kornacki’s real-time number crunching at the county and precinct level on the “Kornacki Cam” stream, available on YouTube and and the network’s streaming platform. Kornacki drew millions of viewers online with his big board and trademark khakis throughout the primary season, when he streamed on nights the network was not on the air. This time around, the network will turn to him throughout the night for a broader look at the results, but he’ll be streaming continuously for those who need an immediate numbers fix.

“I’m hoping they will live stream on the phone and the broadcast on TV,” Kornacki said in a recent interview. “They can be complementary.”

Kornacki will have plenty of company in this election cycle. While CBS News chief political correspondent Ed O’Keefe has the assignment of breaking down the numbers on TV, the network is also serving up a live stream of “The Nerd Show,” with Anthony Salvanto, the network’s director of elections and surveys, and Caitlin Huey-Burns, a CBS News congressional correspondent. They will provide a continuous deep dive into the numbers as they come in.

Nexstar’s cable news channel NewsNation will have a camera fixed on the analysts from Decision Desk HQ, the upstart company that provides voting data to media outlets and corporations.

“You are going to hear my voice about the data, what we’re seeing, not seeing, why we think we can make a projection or why we need to hold off,” said Scott Tranter, Decision Desk HQ’s director of data science. “Sometimes we get data that may look good, but it may not be enough [to call a race]. So you kind of get that back and forth, that ebb and flow.”

Subscribers to Nexstar’s digital political site The Hill will be able to see voting data at the same time as the Decision Desk HQ team, which was the first to call the race for President Trump in 2024.

Todd is among the growing number of independent journalists who have launched their own programs on streaming platforms. He will host a live stream on election night with veteran Washington pundit Chris Cillizza through their Noosphere platform, which will also have full access to Decision Desk HQ data. Todd and Cillizza are partners with Decision Desk HQ on the special, which will be developed into a daily program in 2027.

CNN is also offering its digital users more advanced voting analysis though a new tool called Sightline. Sightline will provide the data the network uses to determine the outcome of races, showing the outstanding vote total, geography, vote method and comparisons with past elections. Viewers can see the information before CNN chief national correspondent John King presents the results on the network’s Magic Wall.

Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer will deliver results and vote counts on an augmented reality set. But users of the Fox News app will have an AI-powered function that provides instant access to the network’s reporting on any contest.

“The idea is to really offer a personalized experience for the users of the national picture or their state or race that they want to look at specifically,” said Doug Rohrbeck, executive vice president of Washington News & Politics for Fox News Media. “The folks who log on can ask about specific races, voting trends, candidates, when polls close and a grid of the balance of power as it’s populating.”

The major networks each have their own decision desk where statisticians, political scientists and analysts pore over vote counts, historical trends and polling to determine a winner. They are typically insulated from the anchors and pundits during coverage, but occasionally show up on the air when necessary.

Showing the work carries its own risk. Early returns can swing sharply as mail-in and election day ballots are counted at different times, and those shifts have been seized on as evidence that something is amiss. Fox News had to put its decision desk chief Arnon Mishkin on camera in 2020 when the network’s viewers and the Trump White House were angered over its early but accurate projection that Joe Biden won Arizona in the presidential election.

NBC News is betting on openness. The network aired a lengthy segment on the Thursday’s edition of “Today” to explain how its decision desk operates and comes up with its election night projections.

“The audience wants to know the work behind the calls and they really want to understand it,” said Rebecca Blumenstein, president-editorial for NBC News. “By showing that work, we feel that it’s a really important part of building trust.”

Another element driving interest is online prediction markets, where users can wager on election results — and the betting companies are now paying for some of the coverage. Kalshi is a sponsor of CBS News’ coverage and of Todd’s election night stream. DraftKings is sponsoring election coverage on CBS’ owned television stations, including KCBS in Los Angeles.

It could take days to determine which party has the majority in the House and Senate. But Kornacki said there will be a strong indicator in the 7 p.m. Eastern hour when results come in from Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District, where both parties are competing for an open seat held by Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican who is running for Senate. Trump has won the district by 15 points or more in each of his three presidential runs.

“It’s an early test,” Kornacki said. “If the Democrats were able to win that or be really close, that’s a sign they’re having the kind of night that they’re kind of dreaming of.”

Citing lingering concerns about the potential misuse of police license plate readers, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to delay an agreement that would enable the deployment of hundreds of the controversial devices until officials are satisfied that the technology will be wielded responsibly.

By a 10-4 vote, the council opted to overrule approval of the 10-year, $235-million contract between the Los Angeles Police Department and Axon Enterprise, halting a deal that had previously been signed off on by the Board of Police Commissioners.

Axon is seeking to outfit hundreds of LAPD patrol squads with plate scanners, which track the movements of vehicles around the city. Under the agreement, the company would also replace thousands of body-worn cameras, supply new Tasers, provide cloud video storage, and roll out a program that uses artificial intelligence to assist officers in writing police reports.

In addition, Axon is seeking to launch a pilot program that would attach plate scanners to streetlights around Los Angeles, offering the LAPD a souped-up version of its current systems by using AI to identify vehicles, license plates, pedestrians and objects that appear on streets and sidewalks.

The council’s decision — which was preceded by several fiery comments from members of the public who oppose the use of license plate readers — sends the contract back to the Police Commission for reconsideration.

A commission spokesperson said that the board’s members weren’t immediately available for comment.

Several council members voiced unease about proceeding without a better sense of the LAPD’s internal policy on license plate reader use. Delaying the contract, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez said, would give the public and city leaders more time to review the safeguards and policies written into the LAPD’s proposed memorandum of understanding with Axon.

Councilmember Traci Park, a staunch supporter of plate reader technology, said there is an urgent need to get the devices “up and running.”

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez shot back that it would be irresponsible to deploy the technology, citing news reports about officers misusing plate readers to stalk romantic partners and track women seeking reproductive health services.

Earlier this year, the LAPD allowed its agreement with one of Axon’s chief competitors, Flock Safety, to lapse over concerns that the Trump administration is using the data it collects to locate immigrants targeted for deportation. Police officials say they no longer have access to the company’s cameras, many of which are owned by homeowners associations and other private groups.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and other department leaders have pushed to expand the use of license plate readers, saying they are a valuable tool for solving crimes, enabling investigators to more easily locate stolen vehicles and fugitives.

Hernandez noted that other police technologies, such as a robot dog used in situations involving barricaded suspects, had quietly moved from a pilot to a full-fledged program without input from the council.

Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said he still had privacy concerns about license plate readers, while noting that their deployment along the Figueroa corridor had assisted in the rescue of dozens of juvenile sex trafficking victims.

“Now having said that, if I’m honest I don’t know what else the cameras are doing,” he said.

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez said that as the license plate reader technology is adopted by other, non-police agencies such as sanitation and street services, the city needs a universal policy governing its use.

The matter will next be heard by the public safety committee — likely at its Oct. 20 meeting — before being taken up by the full council later that week.

In a presentation to the Police Commission last month, the LAPD’s technology czar, Dean Gialamas, said that the department understood the privacy and civil liberty concerns raised about companies such as Flock. This summer, the department announced it was pausing its relationship with the Atlanta-based firm, but police officials have said they are still hopeful to negotiate a new deal with the company that would include more data-sharing safeguards.

Much like the initial debate over the use of forensic DNA testing, Gialamas said, the answer wasn’t to abandon the technology but to create safeguards to “ensure responsible and trusted use.”

Gialamas told commissioners that Axon had agreed to terms that would give the LAPD complete ownership of the data captured and bar the sharing of data with federal authorities. The proposed deal, he said, would also limit the use of plate readers to criminal investigations, missing persons cases and other “serious public safety matters.” Investigators, for instance, would not be able to conduct searches based solely on protests or other 1st Amendment-protected activities, he said.

Under the proposed contract, investigators would no longer be given “unfettered access” to license plate data and the retention period would be significantly cut down, he said. The department would also be permitted to conduct regular audits to flag officers who use the system frequently or conduct unusual searches.

A report issued last month by the LAPD inspector general’s office found numerous “limitations” in the department’s existing agreements with its three plate reader vendors — Flock, Axon and Motorola — including a lack of clear language about how long data are retained and how they are shared with third parties or other law enforcement agencies.

The inspector general recommended that the department update its current license plate reader contracts to address data security and privacy concerns, conduct regular audits and develop standardized rules for traffic stops based on plate reader hits.