Conversations about Culver City — a vibrant enclave on Los Angeles’ Westside often referred to as the “Heart of the Screen” — often include phrases like “walkable” and “green spaces” and “Erewhon.”
So when US Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi pointed out that the city of 39,000 residents is a crime scene during heated discussions with Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) on Wednesday, local officials and personalities responded with statistics, memes and satire.
Bondi slipped in a jab towards the end of the heavy House to hear focused on the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Kamlager-Dove, whose district includes Culver City, criticized Bondi for removing Justice Department data linking far-right views to political murders, saying “there are violent, dangerous people out there who pose real threats.”
“There is – in your district,” replied Bondi. “His district includes Culver City, and he doesn’t talk about crime in his district. There’s nothing about helping crime in his district. He’s not even supposed to go into detail.”
Hometown names aren’t enough to defend this city by posting pictures of clean streets, manicured parks and vibrant community events.
Political commentator and Angeleno Brian Taylor Cohen called the city “arguably one of the most unsafe places” in LA, while Culver City-based comedian Heather Gardner said: “The worst crime of this century is that this woman made a mockery of our justice system. Release the unedited files.”
Kmlager-Dove dismissed Bondi’s comments, saying Culver City is known for “breakfast burritos — not crime.”
A Justice Department spokesman could not provide examples of political violence or domestic terrorism in Culver City, and instead accused Kamlager-Dove of “lacking interest in discussing public safety in and around her district.”
Crime in Culver City is down 9.7% in 2024 and down 6.1% in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Culver City Police Department. Violent crime fell by 3.9% in 2024 – the last full year of data available – but looks set to rise slightly in 2025.
From 2023 to 2024, homicides dropped to zero while aggravated assaults, kidnappings and robberies also decreased. There were 26 cases of sexual assault in the city in 2024, compared to 25 in 2023. The most violent crime that increased was simple assault, which increased by 8.1%.
The California Department of Justice and the FBI report in 2024 that crime in the state has fallen “to among the lowest levels ever recorded.”
Mayor Freddy Puza, in an interview Thursday, described Culver City as a “strong and vibrant community” of people with no shortage of job opportunities at small businesses and corporations alike, including TikTok, Pinterest and entertainment giants Apple, Amazon and Sony.
He said the local government has been able to reduce the crime rate by using community policing and by providing housing and social services to vulnerable people. The mayor described Bondi’s response as a “knee-jerk reaction” by the attorney general who is dealing with issues that are damaging public trust in his department.
“What I’m learning is that you’re trying to deviate,” he said. “I think he can spend his time prosecuting people in the Epstein files and making sure the information from the federal government is public.”
The city has not seen any violence against people, he said, adding, “but the power is close. There is no doubt that it is increasing and the president is encouraging it. People are becoming more and more divided.”
At the trial, Bondi faced heavy criticism of the Justice Department’s investigation of Epstein — particularly for the redaction’s flaws. the release of millions of case files last month. In one incident, the attorney general refused to apologize to Epstein’s victims on the floor, saying he would not “go into the hole” at the request of Democrats.
His performance has already sparked a number of bipartisan calls for his resignation, including from conservative stalwarts including Megyn Kelly, Nick Fuentes and Kyle Rittenhouse.
Culver City wasn’t Bondi’s only target on Wednesday. He called Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is a “damned lawyer,” accused Rep. Kentucky Republican. Thomas Massie for suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome,” and called former CNN correspondent Don Lemon a “blogger.”
However, since the trial, he has remained silent as locals continue to ask him questions and laugh at pictures of the Culver City pylon-protected battlefield.
“The worst crime in Culver City,” Gardener joked again on TikTok, “is that they charge $24 for a smoothie at Erewhon.”
