L.A. urged to stop hiring police; temporary measure seen as budget fix [Updated]

The top budget adviser at Los Angeles City Hall called Friday for the Police Department to halt recruitment for the next three months -- a move that would save $725,000 but cause the LAPD to fall as many as 68 officers below the target set by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council.

Looking to close a $54-million gap for a budget year already in its ninth month, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana released a report recommending that the mayor and City Council drop their plan for hiring police officers through June 30, the end of the fiscal year. The LAPD currently hires enough officers to replace the normal turnover of those who retire or resign.

Santana contends that the city should delay new hiring at least until July 1, when a new ballot measure -- one approved in the March 8 election -- goes into effect, trimming the retirement benefits of newly hired police and firefighters. In recent years, Villaraigosa and the council have repeatedly refused to stop LAPD hiring.

[Updated at 2:37 p.m.: Villaraigosa Deputy Chief of Staff Matt Szabo, who handles budget issues for the mayor, said Santana’s proposal “makes no financial or operational sense whatsoever.”

“It doesn’t come close to solving the problem this year and only makes next year’s problem worse,” he said. “The only way this plan saves any money at all is through a permanent reduction to the police force, which the mayor is not willing to entertain.”]

That Santana has recommended the idea signals the dwindling number of choices for policy analysts, who are also preparing recommendations for closing a $350-million shortfall for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Councilman Richard Alarcon said the proposal represented “a shift” in the thinking of the city’s budget office -- and showed that the requests to end police hiring will remain at the center of debate.

“As long as more cuts have to be made," he said, "it is never out of the question.”

The mayor has insisted that the LAPD remain at 9,963 officers, a figure that would put him roughly four-fifths of the way toward reaching his promise of hiring 1,000 new police. If hiring were stopped during the next budget year, the size of the LAPD would drop by roughly 400 officers, according to city officials.

ALSO:

L.A. police officer shoots man outside fast-food restaurant

Details of LAPD fatal shooting in Westlake revealed

-- David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall

Photo: LAPD officers. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[u know]

The city should have stopped hiring cops 2 years ago!

The arrogance of our little mayor won't let him do it...

[Abouttime]

ABOUT TIME! No kidding the city should have stopped hiring years ago! Enough with the Mayor's glamour plan cause that is all it is. Deal with the rank and file your currently have. Every city fixed their budget by stopping the hiring process. Now they are able hire new officers, give comparable compensation and reinstate overtime! Look around mayor!

[Astonished]

How about we get rid of a few very highly paid and compensated elected "officials", starting with the mayor and his really bloated staff! That ought to help put a plug in the hole,

[Marie]

We need more cops out there to write tickets for all the speeders, stop sign coasters, cell phone and texting drivers, and jaywalkers! Put them in plainclothes and L.A. will make millions a day from these yahoos!

[Anita]

Where is the money that the city collects on increased trash fees for the purpose of hiring "new police"? Is it all mixed up in the "slush fund" that the city uses or do they have this money set aside like they said they were going to do? If it is not secured for police how can we EVER trust the city to do what it promises its citizens..and especially the property tax payers who seem to foot most of the bills!

[TAM]

It does make sense, but the Pint Size Mayor does not understand we are in a mess. Matt Szabo, does not know what he is talking about, and he just as inept as the Pint Size Mayor.

[lacityworkers.com]

If the Police Union, and the Public both don't want More police officers hired at this exact moment shouldn't the Mayor give up his fantasy number of Police Officers?

Wouldn't everyone be better served by having the LAPD streamline operations, improve officer deployment, reduce officers loaned to special details, and hiring more civilians to free up police officers to perform actual police work?

With Sworn making up nearly 80% of the budget and another large portion in lawsuit settlements, it would be in the best interest of all involved to take a 6 month break in hiring as well as reviewing the Police Officer Pay while in training.

By reducing the amount of pay the candidates receive during the Academy, it would increase the amount of money in the budget and it would only obviously be for new hires since they continue to be trained.

[TwoCents]

Yeah, let's hire more officers while we give more furlough time to the LAPD civilian support staff - including 911 operators, emergency vehicle mechanics, records clerks, property officers, etc... We have to make sure we have enough officers to backfill administrative positions that SHOULD be filled by lower paid civilian staff, but it seems to make more financial sense to these people to furlough the civilians and use officers to fill these positions...hhmmmm....

[batteredbypd]

Wow, I finally agree w/ @U know.....Who woulda ever guessed!!!

[FUBU]

Stop hiring new cops and kick all those lazy people in all these admin positions and desk jobs downtown. Put them in black and whites and have them handle some radio calls and arrest somebody for a change. Im sure they can redeploy 68 desk jockeys into the field.

[u know]

welcome aboard batteredbypd!

glad to have you along for the ride

[Rick Abrams]

How about we not give billionaire Eli Broad $52 M for his own parking garage next to his art museum. That would save $52 M of the $54 M.

How about the Mayor support Gov Brown and kill the CRA -- that agency has ripped off $1.5 BILLION in property tax dollars in the last 8 to 10 years?

Last year alone the CRA siphoned off $272 Million -- the $54 Million deficit is only 19.8% of the property taxes that went to the CRA.

[Police jobs]

The government should provide more budget on law enforcement after all Los Angeles is one of the busiest and congested area in the US. Lots of criminals are lurking in the streets and civilians needs more security from bad guys.