Los Angeles City Council Approves LAPD Hiring Boost Amid Budget Concerns
The Los Angeles City Council has finally approved the hiring of up to 410 police officers this year, after months of tension with Mayor Karen Bass over police hiring amid a budget crisis. The conflict began last spring when the council voted to reduce LAPD hiring to 240 new police officers, just half the number Bass had requested, in order to close the city’s $1-billion budget gap and stave off layoffs of other city employees.
The decision to increase hiring came after the LAPD said it had already hired its 240 allotted officers halfway through the fiscal year. The council initially bumped the number of hires up to 280, but still declined to fully fund up to 410 positions, which the mayor had called for in a letter. However, after hearing back from the city administrative officer that the money used to fund the positions this year will come from the LAPD’s budget, and not from the city’s general fund, the council finally approved the hiring of up to 410 officers.
A Modest Victory for Mayor Bass
The hiring of the officers delivers a modest victory to Bass, who promised she would find the money for additional police hires when she signed the budget in June. Bass stated that the additional hires, which would bring the police force to around 8,555 officers by the end of the fiscal year, still would not match the number of officers lost through attrition this year. She emphasized the importance of investing in more police officers, particularly with the FIFA World Cup approaching, which is expected to bring tens of thousands of fans to Los Angeles.
Despite the mayor’s victory, some council members questioned the fiscal wisdom of hiring more officers than the city budgeted for during a time of fiscal crisis. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who chairs the council’s powerful Budget and Finance Committee, expressed concerns about the fiscal impact on next year’s budget. While she supported additional hiring, she preferred to stick to the original council plan of 240 hires this year.
Funding Concerns and Ongoing Costs
The funding for the hires, which is about $2.6 million in total for this fiscal year, will come from pots of money within the Police Department, including a tranche from the “accumulated overtime” bucket. However, some council members took issue with the additional hiring, saying the city did not know how it would pay for the ongoing cost of the hired officers, which will grow to about $25 million in the next fiscal year. Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who voted against the new plan, questioned how the city would pay for the ongoing cost, stating that it was committing itself to a $25-million price tag with no plan for where that’s going to come from.
Police Chief Jim McDonnell, who attended the City Council meeting, took issue with council members criticizing the increased hiring, stating that the department is working on a skeleton crew and that the increased hiring is necessary to ensure public safety. The city administrative officer reported that the $25 million should be found in “ongoing reductions with the Police Department” that would not result in layoffs to civilian staff at the department or take from the city’s general fund.
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