LA City Council rejects LAPD hiring freeze

The Los Angeles City Council rejected a recommendation today to freeze hiring at the Police Department, choosing to maintain staffing at 9,963 officers this fiscal year.

The council voted 10-3 in favor of having the Police Academy hire a combined total of 90 recruits in April and May, and rejected a proposal to delay those classes until the next fiscal year.

Testifying before the council, Police Chief Charlie Beck warned that allowing the size of the force to shrink from 9,963 — a number agreed upon months ago by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council — would lead to an increase in crime.

"A current Rand study done by the best experts in this state, maybe in this country, (showed) a 1 percent reduction in the size of the Police Department equates to a 1 percent increase in the homicide rate,'' Beck said. "It equates to a 0.5 percent increase in robbery rates.''

"I can give you the exact numbers: It's four more homicides, it's 40 more robberies, it's 80 more burglaries,'' Beck said.

Councilman Bernard Parks, chairman of the council's Budget and Finance Committee — which recommended the hiring freeze, noted the Police Department was in the red by $88 million until today, when the council voted to reduce the deficit by taking $20 million out of its emergency reserve fund.

"If we can't sustain 9,963 (officers) today, why do we think we're going to sustain it next year?'' he said.