The union representing members of the Los Angeles Police Department is making an unlikely argument-that the city should stop hiring policemen. (Getty Images)
With the city facing a projected $400 million deficit, the union that represents Los Angeles police officers is pushing a surprising solution: stop hiring cops.
Union leaders say Los Angeles could save millions of dollars by instituting a temporary hiring freeze of new police officers. Instead, they want the city to boost the department's civilian work force and consider restoring overtime pay.
The union's stance is a role-bending byproduct of the city's deepening fiscal crisis, which has shifted some players' alliances and positions in ways that were unthinkable only months ago.
Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck aren't backing down from a commitment to maintain police staffing levels. Meanwhile, union officials, who typically advocate membership growth through hiring, are sounding like management.
"When you hire a police officer, you pay for their training, a new set of benefits, health care, a new pension liability, and that's expensive," said Kristi Sandoval, a director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents the city's more than 9,900 sworn officers. "We need to look at the big-picture financial status of the city of Los Angeles."
The big picture is bleak. After cutting 4,500 positions from city government across an array of departments, Los Angeles still faces an $80 million deficit for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2011. Another $325 million shortfall is projected for the next fiscal year. The city's total annual budget is about $6 billion-$1.3 billion of which funds the police department.
The union's position is a direct challenge to Mr. Villaraigosa, who has promised to protect the number of sworn officers at 9,963, despite the citywide cuts. Mr. Villaraigosa has made safety a key component of his political platform during his two terms as mayor.
Following a national trend, crime has dropped to historic lows in Los Angeles the past few years. The latest police statistics show violent crime in Los Angeles decreased by 11% so far this year, compared with the same period last year.
"We're safer today since any time since 1952," Mr. Villaraigosa said. "We've reduced violent crime...in no small part because we've grown our police department. For the union to argue that we should back off that commitment would be untenable."
Mr. Villaraigosa, who was first elected mayor in 2005, promised to hire 1,000 new officers for the city. His administration went on a hiring binge, boosting department numbers by around 800. In 2004, the LAPD had 9,099 officers, according to a Department of Justice report. Now, it numbers 9,963 officers, making Los Angeles the third-largest police force in the country after New York and Chicago.
New York City's police force has shrunk as that city has grappled with its own deficit. At the beginning of 2002, the city's police department had 40,800 officers. Now, it numbers at 35,000.
To help cut $100 million from Los Angeles' $1.3 billion police budget, union officials agreed to forgo overtime pay during the previous round of contract negotiations with the city. That move, they now say, has resulted in fewer in the field because they are forced to take time off to avoid triggering overtime pay.
Around 700 police officers are filling in for clerical workers on furlough or are forced to take time off, according to Ms. Sandoval, the union leader. Police department officials say many of the officers filling in for clerical staff couldn't be deployed in the field anyway because of injuries.
Supporters of the union plan-including former Los Angeles police chief and current city-council member Bernard Parks-say the savings from a hiring freeze will be nearly $17 million in the next 18 months.
Mr. Parks, who is chairman of the city's Budget and Finance Committee, is holding hearings on the matter. The size of a city's police force "depends on what you can afford," he said, and not a "mythical number."
"You have a deficit, you have a pension fund that's not sustainable, a police force that's not sustainable," he said. "How do you continue to add to that by hiring more people?"
