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It may be Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's goal to not layoff police officers, but attrition and budget cuts to overtime have the department struggling to meet its staffing goals. Chief Charlie Beck today said to the LA Times that he's in the process of transferring 350 officers from specialized units to patrol duty.
"Beck said the cuts to the specialized units were necessary because for every hour that an officer draws overtime the department must give that same officer 1.5 hours off. That amounts to nearly 8% cut in the workforce," explained the Times.
As of last Saturday, crime trends continue to decrease. Compared to 2009, homicide is down by 24%. Overall, violent crimes were down by nearly 14.8% and property crimes were down by 10.6%.
