The Los Angeles City Council voted on Wednesday to approve spending roughly $3 million so that the hiring and training of new police officers isn’t interrupted.
Initial funding ran out last month and LA Mayor Karen Bass warned that a slowdown could cause the department to shrink to unsustainable levels. Wednesday’s vote authorizes more money for the year to allow the LAPD to hire dozens of new officers.
In a statement, Bass said her objective as mayor is to keep residents safe, adding that the city “cannot have an effective police department when it is operating with the lowest staffing levels in years.”
“When I released my budget, I prioritized police hiring and I have continued to push for more officers since,” Bass’ statement read. “The City Council’s action today will allow the department to hire a total of 410 new recruits this fiscal year and bring the police department to roughly 8,500 officers. While this is a critical investment, this number still does not hire to attrition – and it is not enough officers for a city of 3.8 million people. Although this is an important step, there is more work to do to invest in the safety of Angelenos.”
The budget, which funds the bureaucracy of recruiting, screening and training new officers, aims to offset the hundreds of retirements forecast for each year. It’s predicted that about 500 officers may retire this year.
The funding means the next police academy class will begin as scheduled in the next few weeks, with training continuing until the end of the fiscal year in June.
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