A Times review shows that the Los Angeles Police Department has graduated an average of 31 recruits in its last 10 academy classes, roughly the number needed to keep pace with Mayor Karen Bass’ ambitious plan to reach 9,500 officers. Is half.
The smaller-than-expected class sizes — coupled with the number of experienced officers retiring or leaving for other jobs — have heightened speculation around City Hall and LAPD headquarters about whether Bass will reevaluate the department’s staffing needs in his new budget proposal. , due Monday.
City officials have said they need to hire about 60 new officers per month to overcome the force’s attrition rate.
The mayor did not give any timetable for his police recruitment plan. But figures show that increasing the size of the force from the current 8,832 sworn officers to 9,500 is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Considering the stability of the city deteriorating financial pictureSome politicians and progressive activists argue that it makes no sense to keep funding the department for staff it may not be able to hire.
A Times analysis of graduating class data and news releases posted on the department’s website found that 309 recruits have graduated from the LAPD academy since July 1. Over the same period, the department lost 552 officers due to retirement, dismissal or resignation – another 113 are expected to die. Take leave until June 30, the end of the budget year, according to a spokesperson.
Although the figures do not reflect every recent appointment or departure, overall they give a rough idea of the depth of the department’s staffing crisis.
Interim Chief Dominic Choi acknowledged those struggles in an interview with NBC Nightly News this week, saying that larger workloads have contributed to low officer morale and residents to wait longer for police services. Have forced. Staffing shortages are causing more officers in LA and other cities to work overtime, further stretching the budget.
This “slippage” in response times was especially evident for non-emergency calls, which increased “from about 20 minutes to 40 minutes or even an hour,” Choi said.
“I think if we had about 12,000 employees, we would have a good workforce,” Choi told former chief William J. Said, repeating Bratton’s point. Cited in 2002 As a minimum requirement the department needs to patrol the city properly.
A US Justice Department study published last fall suggested that the causes of the “historic crisis” in police staffing were increased public scrutiny of police conduct, high officer burnout rates and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Strictly involved in the labor market. ,
The LAPD’s staffing struggles come at a time when cities across the country, facing similar manpower issues, are rethinking the role that police should play.
Even with fewer officers, crime rates have declined nationwide over the past several years. However, so far this year, the number of murders in LA has increased compared to the first four months of 2023, a reversal of the trend seen in other big cities. Other types of crime have declined in Los Angeles, and Choi told the Police Commission during his weekly briefing that the rate of murders has slowed in recent weeks.
The Olympics and World Cup loom as security challenges in the coming years, who has also been named as the next LAPD chief – Nationwide search underway – Will be asked to increase staff.
Department and city leaders have tried various tactics to lure recruits in recent months.
Last time, the city council Four-year package of salary increases and bonuses approved For executives who did, starting salaries increased to $86,000, along with larger retention bonuses and other incentives. This came over the objections of some council members that the pay raises and bonuses were too expensive and would not address the deeper issue of why fewer people are going into policing.
The LAPD recently hired a new marketing firm, using a combination of public and private funding, that is more digitally focused and will help the department “speak to the younger demographic,” officials told the Police Commission. told. The department is also offering monetary incentives to officers who refer recruits who graduate through the academy.
Other efforts have stalled.
a plan to Bring back retired officers on temporary basis There has been little success in filling the vacancies, with only a few retirees signing up.
Even though Bass has acknowledged that she was not “overconfident” that the LAPD could achieve 9,500 officers, her office has remained silent about whether she would change her goal. A recent report from the city’s top budget analyst said the LAPD will likely end the year with 8,908 officers — the lowest sworn deployment in more than two decades.
For some elected officials and progressive groups, the staffing shortage presents an opportunity to put money into the budget to pay officials to expand positions for social service workers who deal with mental illness, homelessness or substance abuse. Can better respond to non-violent calls. The city has launched several pilot programs in recent years, but supporters say such efforts have languished due to inadequate funding.
“Spending too much money on the LAPD so far has not led to more recruits and increased staffing, and we need a holistic alternative response,” said one of the three who voted on the council against the officers’ pay increase. said Nithya Raman, a council member from.
Raman recently won his re-election bid Over an opponent that received heavy financial support from unions representing police officers and firefighters, among other groups.
A spokesperson for Bass previously said that although the mayor has not ruled out cutting some of the city’s thousands of unfilled jobs to balance the city budget, any cuts would not affect police officers.
L.A. is hardly alone in its police recruiting crisis. A recent survey by the Police Executive Research Forum found that in most places, recruitment is not slowing down, resulting in a decline of about 5% in the total police workforce across the country.
Lobbying for more officers has become an annual ritual in the LAPD, which has historically been one of the smallest large-city departments in the country on a per capita basis.
For a few weeks in January 2019, the department’s staff reached 10,072. It originally reached the symbolic 10,000-officer threshold sought by previous city and department leaders in 2013, near the end of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s term.
