L.A. City Council candidate Ysabel Jurado says 'F_ the police' in leaked audio

CD-14 candidate Ysabel Jurado is heard in leaked audio “F_ the police” in a meeting with students at Cal State L.A. 

Jurado said it was part of a lyric and she was listening to the concerns of young people and students. 

“In a meeting with students at Cal State LA, I quoted a lyric from a song that’s been part of a larger conversation on systemic injustice and police accountability for decades. But it was just a lyric — and I’m proud to be accessible to young people and students, listening to their concerns and treating them like the future leaders they are. That’s something my opponent has failed to do,” Jurado said in a statement to the press in response to the leaked audio. 

“My commitment to public safety remains as strong as ever,” Jurado continued. “Let’s focus on what matters, as laid out by the LA Times last week: our city is teetering on the edge of a fiscal emergency. We’re in this mess because of reckless decisions, including massive payouts for police misconduct. The result? A city broke, unable to fix busted sidewalks, broken streetlights, or trim trees—services that keep us safe and whole; services that we desperately need. The safest cities in America invest in parks, recreation, youth development, and public infrastructure—departments that my opponent has voted to gut down to less than 1% of the budget.”

Recently there was news in social media by the Boyle Heights Beat that Martin Perez, who is constituent service deputy for Kevin De León office, asked Jurado the question during the Cal State LA meeting, according to Pete Brown, De León's spokesperson. Perez was captured in an audio recording asking Jurado: "As someone who's myself, pro-abolishment of police where do you stand on the spectrum?" Perez is a political science student at Cal State L.A., who attended the gathering as a student and "was not on the clock working," Brown said.

Her opponent, incumbent Kevin de León, was also embroiled in a leaked audio scandal in 2022 with Gil Cedillo and Nury Martínez where they talked about indigenous Mexicans, Oaxacans, the Black and LGBT communities, as well as councilman Mike Bonin’s family.

In a previous debate held in Boyle Heights, De León accused Jurado of wanting to “abolish the police.” 

When Jurado was asked about her stance on police during the debate, she said she had never said she wanted to abolish the police. “Don’t put words in my mouth,” she told De Leon. “I have never said that,” she said. “We put so much money into public safety into the LAPD yet street business owners and residents in these communities do not feel safer. The safest cities invest in communities, in recreation and parks, in libraries [and] youth development.” 

Brenda Verano and Amairani Hernandez contributed to this story.