Two Los Angeles Police Department investigators say they were ordered to probe Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after her election, according to a recent report in The Los Angeles Times.
The investigative report states the two detectives, employed by LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division, filed complaints with the Office of the Inspector General stating that LAPD Chief Michel Moore requested an investigation after it was discovered Bass had received a scholarship to attend the University of Southern California. Moore has denied the allegations.
News of Bass being awarded the scholarship first surfaced during the 2022 election, when Rick Caruso, her opponent in the race, vilified her for accepting it, then offering to introduce legislation that would give USC and other universities more access to federal funding. Bass has denied she committed any misconduct, and the House Committee on Ethics has since allowed her to accept the scholarship.
“The mayor and I have NOT discussed any such investigation by anyone in the department into her USC Master’s Degree in Social Work,” Moore told The Los Angeles Times. “Additionally, I have no such knowledge of any alleged investigation nor would I initiate any such investigation.”
He further wrote in a statement that it “is restricted in scope to conducting investigations of potential misconduct by Department employees. I did not initiate, request, or authorize an investigation as alleged in any fashion. This matter is now with the Office of the Inspector General and I look forward to their investigation into these fictitious allegations.”
The investigators’ complaints stated that when they were ordered to undergo an investigation into Bass, they were troubled “to the point that they ultimately refused the assignment,” the report reads.
It is not yet known why Internal Affairs detectives would have been ordered to handle the probe.
One complaint stated “I believe that using LAPD resources to investigate Karen Bass was improper, unethical and a violation of City ordinances and was done for the personal benefit of Chief Moore to assure his reappointment as Chief of Police.”
The conflicting accounts between the department’s chief and two experienced detectives have once more brought the typically secretive operations of the department into public scrutiny, following a series of embarrassing scandals involving LAPD leadership, the Los Angeles Times reported. Recent allegations lack substantiating evidence as per the complaints, and both detectives involved have chosen not to divulge any further details regarding the case.
