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LAPD officers union close to contract as Bratton warns against furloughs
The city of Los Angeles may be close to a deal with its police officers’ union after months of contract negotiations. More on the story from KPCC’s Frank Stoltze.
City officials want police officers to help reduce LA’s 400-million dollar budget deficit by giving up benefits or delaying pay raises - or both.
Some on the city council say that if the union doesn’t go along, they’d support reducing the police force to 95-hundred officers, from close to 10-thousand.
Chief Bill Bratton’s bristled at the idea.
“I think one of the city councilmen talked about – who’s been in office all of three months – ‘oh, we can get by with 95-hundred.’ I’ve been doing this for 40 years. I’m sorry, somebody whose been in office for three months really ought to examine it a little more closely.”
A spokesman for Mayor Villaraigosa told City News Service that even with concessions from the police union, LA may still need to dip into its reserve fund to address the deficit.
City Council President Eric Garcetti said the city’s already pulled 50-million dollars from its reserve to make up for plummeting tax revenues, and shouldn’t draw out more of the money.
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