A controversial plan to clean up an encampment in West Hills on Thursday has been postponed after a “highly inappropriate” email from a Los Angeles Police Department officer was leaked, the department said Tuesday.
The social media account Film the Police LA released a screenshot of an email from Senior Lead Officer Brittney Gutierrez in which she says the Thursday cleanup is being conducted by a “hush hush task force.” She also indicated that she did not want any of the people experiencing homelessness to be contacted before the cleanup so she could arrest all of them.
“Everyone will be arrested and all their belongings will be taken away by sanitation,” she wrote.
William Gude, a Hollywood resident who was identified by the Los Angeles Times as the person behind the Film the Police LA account, described the wording of the email as “wild.”
“This language sounds like they’re trying to herd & trap homeless,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, the LAPD said the cleanup has been “postponed for the moment” and Gutierrez “will be provided extensive training by the Department’s Homeless Coordinator’s Office.”
The department added in its statement that arrests “will not be used as a means of creating a quick fix to a complicated situation, nor will it be based solely on the person’s homeless status.”
“Our presence, if at all, is to provide for the safety of all involved,” the statement added.
