Los Angeles Mayor Karen Boss raised the salary for the city's rank and file police officers last year, and in 2022 he sold the LAPD to 9,500 members before the election.
In a few months, the Los Angeles Police Department has continued to present confidence in the reach of the goal.
However, behind the scenes, authorities begin to face the reality that the LAPD creation will not happen at any time – at the same time acknowledging that the country's third largest police department will continue to shrink.
Between the new predictions, recruitment defects and depreciation of the department's financial year 2026 budget, the leaders will lose more than 150 guards, and by June 30, 2026, about 8,620 policemen will be lost. This will indicate the lowest sequence in about 30 years, the records show.
During general appearances, Bass, LABT leader Jim McDonald and other top leaders argue that the sector needs to grow more human resources to maintain public security. The policies fire recently showed that the field could extend thin during a major disaster. Meanwhile, the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games are massive security challenges.
Although the LAPD is still small, the city is becoming safe by some action – despite the public Realization Should Virtually. Police data show that various types of violent crimes, especially murders and shootings have declined. Continuous decline for many years After increasing during infections.
LAPD leaders have long been discussing how many officials should patrol the widespread area of the city, which is longing from Wilmington to San Fernando Valley. Although the motivation is historically high, the latest crime tendencies have surprised some if the latest decline of employees has actually led to the exact amount of the department.
Some officials say it is difficult to retain the decline in recent crimes, as it is less officers for patrol and other activities. When people call 911, not only enjoying more time waiting, but some crimes are inevitably resolved by the shortage of investigators – both of which will distort the public's confidence.
LA is not alone in hiring and retaining officers. Like other major city agencies, LAPD faces fierce competition for other suburban law enforcement agents and top candidates of the private sector.
In recent years, the signing bonus to attract applicants has begun to provide additional incentives to the current officials who rent a house or buy a house in the city. It is advertising its marketing budget, Dictock and other social media sites and reaching the younger candidates. Less favorable view Of law enforcement than their adults.
The authorities also examined Hiring recently retired officersAnd bringing more public to take the desk jobs carried out by the present officials. The poll from recent years suggests that most Angelinos have not been more interested in shortening the field.
The latest police contract recognized in the fall of 2023 raises the initial wage of the authorities by almost 13%, guaranteeing a 3% annual increase in four years. LAPD starting salary is now over $ 86,000 – more than Pasadeena, Long Beach and Parbang, but Beverly Hills and Santa Monica are still less than Santa Monica.
The city council has signed up the rise, Over the opposition From activists and some city officials, they say they will not significantly increase recruitment, and they will come at the cost of other basic services such as park maintenance and street corridor.
Among those who raised concerns, council member Nithya Rahman said he had voted against the LAPD hike because they did not believe that they would fix the real problem: the same number of people did not go into law enforcement, for other reasons. Pay.
“We do not really understand the fact that spending too much money on LAPD did not increase the number of decisions or employees,” he said.
Research shows that the determination of hiring more policemen is now being distracted from development and long -term investment in community -based projects, which is very effective in addressing the underlying causes of crime, Rahman said.
“We need a complete alternative answer,” Rahman said, “He is part of the new temporary council committee to raise alternatives to the police.” “That conversation is not even yet.”
The sector has a multi -billion -dollar budget without the deflation Continuously grown From the mass protests following the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police in 2020. In some ways, the LAPD began to resemble the regulated force proposed by some reformers. Low -level arrests and traffic stops have fallen, and the lack of employee has been forced to focus more on responding and judging violent crimes.
LAPD faced other parts of employees to decrease the number of employees. The 1965 Watts rise prompted a hiring, but in the late 1970s, after the tax-lack of tax-inflicting 13 city treasures, the department's tenure of the department was shrunk by hundreds of officials. In the subsequent years, the then Chief Minister Daryl Gates insisted on expanding the department to 8,500 policemen to maintain the city's population growth. Voters disagreed, repeatedly rejected the Gates-backed ballot and increased police posts with a flat-level property tax.
But during the peak of the war on drugs in the 1980s, police recruitment increased again, and after another infiltration, after another infiltration, a black driver, Rotney King, was released in 1991 following the release of four LAPD officers. As soon as Mayor Richard Reorden came to power, the LAPD was expanded to 10,000 officers on the promise to restore order in the city – the lineup of mayors and police leaders chased the identity criterion. For two decades.
Max Felgar-Kandor, Professor of Paul State University, who is studying the history of the department, said that LAPD officials used the moments of crisis, “provide a way to create those arguments where we need more police.”
Officials have long set the sector size compared to the NYPD and Chicago police, which historically have more officers to patrol the small geographical areas. He said this idea of a long -standing force had been “deeper”, and has an impact on the “performance” style of the sector that relies on technologies such as helicopters and prognostic police software.
LAPD's proposed expenditure scheme predicts that it will add 585 new recruits over 13 academy classes next year, which hires 45 new guards every month – which is the target of the department. Not reached for many years. Only 21 officers crossed the stage at the most recent academic graduation ceremony this month, which was transferred to the house due to wind quality worries due to a nearby wildfire.
Speaking to The Times, senior LAPD officials described a consistent cheat act that maintains the minimum patrol, and the internal documents show a group of eight people in categories such as Central, Willashire and Rampart. Hundreds of officers are on a permanent injury or sick leave and dozens of people are detained for various specialist committees.
According to experts studying police recruitment, the departments from the coast to the coast face the same problem that loses faster than the authorities. Experts note that the misconduct of the authorities, the relatively low wage and the lack of interest in the long work in government service compared to other less dangerous industries.
The Reddit page dedicated to Lapd things offers another explanation: more red tape during the recruitment process. The forum dominates by anonymous posts that complain about the waiting for several months from the background investigators.
Some officials say that it is very soon to look at the effects of the police, which will eventually help the department's employee loss.
The Chairman of the Police Commission, Erroal Chauders, said he considers that in many general looks, the strong reputation of the department continues to attract those who can be officers.
“We didn't take anyone, so I'm fine,” Sauders said in an interview last year.
Former LA County District. Atty. George Gaschan – previously worked as a top LAPD officer and involved in the structure of 10,000 officers in 2011 – as he did today, he believed that the target was “the most arbitrary number without real science.” Behind it. ”
“The truth is that there is no clear formula that says that this is the number of officers you have to be,” he said, pointing out that there was no consensus among experts on what the conditions of the policemen were in security.
At least, with fewer police officers, does not mean that costs are reduced. The short staff department has spent millions of times for extra time – and it makes it possible In hook for expensive future allowances.
LAPD Vice President John McMahon agreed that LAPD was growing small, but that the developing technologies and fields were forced to do so would help improve the performance. He said that the lack of personality means that the authorities are a few hours of calls, interviewing witnesses, or restoring a surveillance video, and that it takes some time for “sensible enforcement” to help prevent crimes.
For months, he insisted for a real -time crime center, which will monitor the live video of a large number of cameras and license plate readers across the city, and they will provide information to the police time when they respond to emergency. In recent months, department officials have begun to investigate the increased use of drones. Like cities like Beverly HillsSaid.
Some police surveillance groups, such as the Stop LAPT Spying Alliance, are ignoring the history of the idea that digital technology can solve all the problems of the community – the “technical -degradation” of the department. If not verified, such extensions of police powers have historically led to privacy penetration and mass surveillance, especially in colored communities.
Mcdonnell, the new leader of the LAPD, said that one of those who pressed more officers to hire more officers, at the same time supporting how resources are used.
During a confirmation hearing, the MCDonnell City Council told the City Council that he needed more guards to “strengthen” the social police service, which officials have called for the authorities to get out of their vehicles and engage with residents, instead of a 911 call from a 911 call.
“We are working on a shoe now,” McDonald said. “But performance comes at the expense of social police theory.”
Times staff writer David Janiser contributed to the report.