The union representing police officers in the Los Angeles Police Department is absolutely right that the department's resources and growth plan need a re-examination. And everything - from police hiring to current officer work schedules - should be on the table.

The Police Protective League this week called for city officials and the police chief to hold a summit on the future of the LAPD in light of the budget crisis, which has ravaged other city departments while LAPD keeps on hiring.

What the PPL mainly wants rethought is the mayor's and chief's steadfast adherence to hiring new officers to keep the department's size from falling due to attrition or retirement. The union, however, would rather see the money the department is using to hire new officers be used to pay current officers more overtime and fill civilian vacancies so sworn officers don't have to empty trash cans or answer phones - jobs that civilians could do.

It's a transparently self-serving position - many officers bulk up their annual salaries by large percentages with regular overtime. But the idea of having a comprehensive discussion about the immediate future of the department has merit. The use of current sworn officers to do civilian jobs surely does need examining - and possible retooling. And as Councilman and former LAPD Chief Bernard Parks suggests, the department's flexible schedules should also be looked at. It's only right to examine everything if the goal is truly what's best for cost-effective public safety in Los Angeles.

It's also wise to get the public on board before the annual political pressure to stop hiring returns next year when the City Council is trying to fill budget holes.

To his credit, Police Chief Charlie Beck has discounted the impact of hiring versus paying overtime and maintained that he will not be swayed to let the force size decline.

Many people have pooh-poohed the role of the department's growth in decreasing crime. Crime has dropped for seven years in a row, coinciding - not coincidentally - with the arrival of former Police Chief William Bratton. Bratton reorganized the department, modernized it and pressured the political leaders to get him more cops for the street.

When he took office in 2005, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa promised Bratton 1,000 new cops, and he hiked the trash collection fee on Angelenos to pay for it. Although the city is still slightly short the extra 1,000 officers, the size of the force did start to grow. And as it did, crime in the once-infamous murder capital of the country, dropped.

But, what good are those nearly 1,000 officers if a large number are staffing the jail or kept indoors doing civilian jobs? It's worth looking at what combination of sworn and civilian workers get the maximum number of officers on the street and in the community.

Some believe this is nothing more than a coincidence, that other factors played a role in the city's crime rate, such as the gentrification of some formerly crime-ridden neighborhoods and the manipulation of data. But who wants to take the chance that L.A. of the next decade could return to 1990s levels when crime ran rampant and police officers were hampered by corruption investigations?

The PPL is right to call for a summit, but the union must be willing to consider all the possibilities, not just the ones that benefit its workers.