More police officers. More firefighters and paramedics. And … pickleball courts.
Those were among the wishlists of some Los Angeles City Council budget committee members as they discussed city department budgets for the upcoming fiscal year on Thursday, April 27.
In addition to combating L.A.’s homeless crisis, Mayor Karen Bass has prioritized public safety in her $13 billion citywide budget proposal. Chief among those priorities, she hopes to hire hundreds of officers over the next fiscal year to rebuild the city’s shrinking police force.
The Los Angeles Police Department has lost more than 900 sworn officers since 2019, dipping below 9,100 sworn officers today, LAPD Chief Michel Moore reported in a letter to the budget committee last week. The mayor wants to bring that number up to 9,504 by the end of June 2024.
Bass has proposed increasing the LAPD’s budget by just under 1%, or about $18.5 million, to $1.89 billion. That increase would provide funding to aggressively recruit new hires, including nearly $3.65 million in sworn officer hiring bonuses and $50,000 for a job referral program. Specifically, Bass has proposed awarding up to $15,000 in bonuses to new officers and up to $2,000 to city employees who refer people to join LAPD.
The LAPD is also looking at tapping about 200 recently retired officers to return for up to 12 months while the LAPD builds up its staff through new, permanent hires.
The department has proposed 13 police academy classes, each comprised of 60 recruits, to help increase LAPD’s number of police officers. Factoring in attrition, the department hopes to net an increase of more than 400 sworn officers.
A few councilmembers asked the police chief whether it was realistic to expect to hire hundreds of new officers, given how much the department has struggled in recent years to hire employees.
“Can I just get a reality check on that? When was the last time we had a 60-person class?” Councilmember Tim McOsker asked.
Moore responded that the last time LAPD had a 60-person class was either before the COVID-19 pandemic or just as the pandemic was starting. In 2021, the department graduated one of its smallest-ever Police Academy classes, with 79 officers.
“This is ambitious, and … it will require looking at every aspect of the process of hiring, as well as how we attract people,” Moore said about the goals to staff up quickly.
On the issue of rehiring recently retired police officers, Moore said 71 people who fall into this category have expressed interest in returning to LAPD.
Besides the police department, the budget committee on Thursday discussed funding for the fire department.
The mayor’s proposed spending plan would increase the fire department’s budget by 6.7% over what was initially approved for the current fiscal year, bringing the department’s total budget to $835.4 million.
During her State of the City address this month, Bass said more than 80% of incidents the fire department responds to are medical in nature. To address this, she proposed a program that would allow qualified paramedics to start working for the department before they complete their firefighter training.
Fire Chief Kristin Crowley stressed the importance of Bass’ proposal, telling the budget committee members that a record number of employees will be retiring this year and next, including 190 next fiscal year.
“The emergency hire paramedic (program) is a temporary solution to push us through this challenging time,” Crowley said.
The department has 75 paramedic vacancies, and that is expected to grow to 136 at its peak vacancy level, the fire chief said. Having more than 100 vacancies becomes “very, very challenging” for the department, she said.
The department is also requesting an additional $12 million above what the mayor’s budget proposes to buy emergency vehicles to bolster its fleet. About 22.5% of its vehicles are out of service, she said.
Crowley is also wants to hire two additional psychologists, noting that psychologists who work in the department reported that first responders had suffered a 32% increase in psychological distress and post-traumatic stress.
The budget committee also reviewed the budget for the recreation and parks department on Thursday.
McOsker requested that the department return at a later date with a citywide plan to convert park spaces into pickleball courts, or to look into turning courts into dual uses for tennis and pickleball.
“The next big thing, I believe, is pickleball,” said McOsker, noting that a couple hundred people show up daily to a park in his district to play pickleball on the tennis courts.
“The demand is unbelievable and it’s happening without us, so we might as well jump in,” he said.
The committee then took up a review of the city’s housing and homeless-related budgets in the afternoon. Bass has proposed a record $1.3 billion in the new fiscal year to combat homelessness.
The committee is scheduled to meet again Friday morning to discuss the budget for the public works department.
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