Nearly 27% of new LAPD officers are women, new figures show. But progress could be fleeting.

The Los Angeles Police Department hired a greater share of women than ever over the last two years, according to figures presented to the Police Commission on Tuesday, putting the department close to a goal it sought to complete by 2030.

After a surge in hiring delayed by the pandemic, more than one-quarter of LAPD’s lowest ranked police officers are women, commanders said.

The department’s sworn and civilian report — a snapshot in time of the entire force broken down by rank, ethnicity, gender — shows as of Nov. 20 among Police Officer 1s, the rank given to officers hired out of the academy, there were 472 men and 170 women. That means just under 27% are women.

That puts the department close to its “30×30” initiative: LAPD is seeking to hire at least 30% women among its new recruits within the next decade. In their presentation to the Police Commission on Tuesday, LAPD commanders and civilian staff in charge of the hiring process said that figure would put the department ahead of most other police agencies in the nation in terms of hiring women.

The progress appears to be fleeting, however.

The department hired 570 officers during the city’s 2021-22 fiscal year — its biggest class of officers in more than a decade — as it plays catch up following a COVID-19 pandemic-related hiring freeze. The surge in women came from that cohort. Commanders on Tuesday said many of those women were waiting for months or almost a year to enter the academy and become new officers.

Now, with a steady stream of potential recruits sending applications, the rate of women has fallen significantly. LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the department is getting more recruits in the last six months of 2022, but fewer of them are women.

“It’s only 21% women,” Moore said of the recent recruits who have completed a significant number of steps to enter LAPD’s academy.

LAPD maintained that higher number of women in the 2021-22 cohort by essentially doing everything it could to keep women recruits from leaving during the hiring freeze.

Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said the department’s personnel staff followed up repeatedly with women recruits and invited them to events with women mentors from the department.

“Without those activities, we would never have reached that 27%,” said Choi.

LAPD remains overwhelmingly dominated by men. Out of the entire force, just 18.66% are women. That’s despite years of efforts to create a department that better reflects Los Angeles County, gender-wise, by attracting women recruits and promoting them to the highest levels of the department.

The department faces significant challenges in getting anywhere close to an equitable number of men and women in the department, not to mention other underrepresented groups, like African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

A strong economy with low unemployment, low morale among current officers and a drastic reversal in public opinion of police following years of protest against them has made LAPD’s recruitment challenges bleak.

Dr. Laura Kokinda, a psychologist in L.A.’s personnel department, analyzed what happened to women who made it part of the way through LAPD’s recruitment process since 2020.

Among other requirements, LAPD recruits must complete a psychological evaluation at the end of their application. Historically, women have passed the exam at a higher rate than men.

During the pandemic, the reverse became true, Kokinda said. Since 2020, women have failed the test at a higher rate than men.

She said research has shown the stresses of the pandemic fell harder on women across the United States than men.

“We’re seeing a much higher percentage of recruits who have received mental health treatment,” Kokinda told the commission.

“That in itself is not a disqualification…we love seeing candidates who reach out for help when they need support. We’d rather see candidates who reach out sooner than later. That’s a healthy candidate.

“But some things are not going to meet (Peace Officer Standards and Training) qualifications,” Kokinda said. “Recent suicide attempts, or close to suicide attempts, we’ve seen a lot of that lately.”

School closures and the rising costs of hiring childcare workers made police work impossible for some women, Kokinda said.

“We all know since 2020, childcare impacted women at a greater rate than men,” she said. “I do believe that has affected who we’ve seen come through this process. These recruits are looking for more flexible job opportunities — that’s not something we have in police work.”

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