"For eight months, the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Karen Bass have butted heads 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 this budget year - just half the officers Bass had requested - in order to close the city's $1 billion budget gap and stave off layoffs of other city employees, including civilian workers in the LAPD."
""The second largest city in the United States cannot have an effective police department when it is operating with the lowest staffing levels in years," she said. "And with only five months until Los Angeles welcomes tens of thousands of fans from around the world for the FIFA World Cup, investing in more police officers is critical to public safety.""
"On Wednesday, the council finally approved the hiring of up to 410 officers this year 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 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."
Los Angeles approved hiring up to 410 LAPD officers this fiscal year after the city administrative officer confirmed funding will come from the LAPD budget rather than the general fund. The City Council previously limited hires to 240, later raising to 280, to address a $1 billion budget gap and avoid layoffs. The additional hires will raise the force to about 8,555 officers but will not replace officers lost to attrition. Mayor Karen Bass framed the hires as necessary for public safety ahead of the FIFA World Cup. Some council members expressed concern about hiring more officers amid fiscal strain.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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