Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass set to announce her plan to restore police force
Eden Villalovas
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass plans to unveil her first budget on Tuesday, which calls to restore the city’s police department to 9,500 officers after losing nearly 1,000 officers since 2019, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently at 9,130 officers, the Los Angeles Police Department is expected to lose more throughout the year, as retirement and resignation demands are up 20% more than usual, according to LAPD Chief Michel Moore.
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The first woman to lead Los Angeles said she is not confident she will reach her goal because hiring an extensive amount of officers when Police Academy classes are not filling up is a long shot. Moore told the Police Commission in December 2022 that class registration holds around 34 members.
“But I think it’s very important to set that as a marker — very important,” Bass told the Los Angeles Times. “There’s no way I would say, ‘I want to get to 9,200.’ Again, because I’m really worried about further attrition.”
In January, the LAPD implemented a hardly used bureaucratic measure that allows the chief of police to rehire retired officers back for up to a year. Informally known as the “bounce program,” they hoped to restock their roster.
Bass voiced her concerns over the declining recruitment rate after hundreds of undercover LAPD officers filed legal claims against the city and police department following a data leak incident. More than 9,300 officers’ information and photographs were released by the watchdog group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition in an online database in March.
On April 5, the city of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against Stop LAPD Spying Coalition and Knock LA journalist Ben Camacho for “wrongful possession” of the leaked material.
The announcement of rebuilding the LAPD has already fueled rebuttal responses from advocate groups who push for policing reforms and alternatives.
La Defensa, which fights for communities through an abolitionist lens, said the city should seize the opportunity of low police staff numbers to expand unarmed specialists trained in handling mental health crises or other emergencies.
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People’s City Council LA, a coalition of social and climate justice members and organizations, have expressed their disdain ahead of Bass’s announcement on Twitter, writing, “Shocking: Karen Bass loves cops.”
The 43rd mayor is set to deliver her first State of the City address tonight at 5:30 p.m. from Los Angeles City Hall. Bass is expected to review her first 100 days in office and cover her plans to fix the homelessness crisis, public safety and crime rates, and future advances for the city.