Los Angeles: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa administered the oath of office this morning to the newest and largest police recruit class to enter the Los Angeles Police Academy in ten years.
Eighty-three men and women stood in their business suits and raised their hands to swear an oath to uphold the United States Constitution and protect the residents of Los Angeles. Of the 83 new recruits; 69 will go to the LAPD; 11 will become part of the Airport Police Department; 2 to the General Services Department, which protects City facilities; and 1 more rejoins the LAPD as a lateral officer, who will complete an abbreviated academy.
Mayor Villaraigosa announced his proposal to pay new hires a $5,000 signing bonus, half payable after completing academy training and half at the end of the 18-month probationary period. Lateral officers, hires from other agencies, would earn a $10,000 signing bonus, if the proposal is adopted by the City Council.
"The signing bonuses reflect what is being done in the market place in many service industries,"said LAPD spokesman Lieutenant Paul Vernon. "We want officers to join LAPD out of a sense of service to the community and desire to be part of the LAPD, but the signing bonus gives us an extra perk other smaller agencies can't offer.”
The mayor's signing-bonus proposal was announced for the first time today, so none of this class was aware of the incentive, but they may be eligible for the benefit, depending on how the proposal is adopted by the City Council.
About one-fifth of the new class is female. Ten percent of the class is African American and 44% is Latino. All four of the major military services are represented in the class, with several class members having served in Iraq. Twenty-three of the new officers have academic degrees, and some came from other professions, including mail carriers, teen counselor, actor, detention officer, computer technician, and X-ray technician.
Persons interested in joining the LAPD can go online at www.JOINLAPD.com. The written civil service test is administered almost daily at police stations across the city. The beginning annual salary of an LAPD officer ranges from over $52,000 to nearly $71,000.
Chief Bratton, seemed like very poor sportsmanship exhibited by you yesterday in the KCAL-9 News segment when you questioned why anyone would want to join the LA County Sheriff Department. I'm surprised, you usually show a lot of class.
The Sheriff Department is first rate department Chief...sorry you are ignorant to that fact. You shouldn't suggest that it's not a good place to work because Deputies have to work in the Jails for a few years. The jails offer lot's of overtime in the and most Deputies don't want to leave for that very reason...it also offers great experience in dealing with street thugs. The Sheriff Academy is a high stress Academy as compared to the LAPD's low stress Academy, producing tough as nails street coppers...
Posted by: Wyatt Earp | January 09, 2025 at 02:53 PM
I am curious as to why there is so much resistance by the city or the dept not to wanting to increase overtime... LIMIT THE OVERTIME ONLY TO
PATROL...AND ONLY TO OFFICERS WHO ARE PRODUCTIVE.. Working in the building or admin spot should not qualify for the overtime. Obviously the city has the money to hire the 1,000 officers it wants. Since the city cannot do that right now and it is
expected that over 300 officers will be leaving just this year, it mightbe a good idea to open up overtime funds. As you hire new officers to replace the ones that have left, you can slowly curtail the overtime. If the public only knew how few patrol cars get deployed on each given day in a division, they would be outraged. The mayors phone would stop ringing. Cut the red tape and
do what is right. The publics and officers safety is compromised with so little officers out there as it is. I know there is talk of it happening, no one wants to hear that. Just answer why it is not going to happen or if it is going to happen, when and why is it taking so long???? No one wants to hear the usual "redtape" and that it takes time. Because it can be done over night if the mayor wants. All you have to do is shift the money set aside to hire the officers that are not there at this time to overtime and you can see the drop in crime even more in matter of days.
Posted by: Kenneth | January 09, 2025 at 10:03 PM
The Chief is in a recruiting war with every Law Enforcement Agency in the state. He is trying to get more applicants. He is just stating facts. On of the reasons I did not even consider LASD is because of the jails. It is a place that I would never want to work. We put in 8 long months and get to go straight into the field, LASD has a quick 4 month academy and then sits in the jails for years. That should be an easy decision for people that want to get out into the streets. Plus LASD Deputies are lateraling over because they are tired of the jails and want to get into the streets. Words came directly from their mouths.
Some times the truth hurts and people do not like to hear it, but get over it. LAPD is the best damn police agency in the land.
Be safe out there my brothers and sisters in blue....
Posted by: P-2DAWG | January 09, 2025 at 10:45 PM
P2-Dawg....the truth you speak of is that the LASD is beating the snot out of the LAPD in recruiting....Did you read the big article in the LA Times a few weeks back?
Sure there may be some who lateral over to the LAPD, but there are also LAPD who lateral over to the Sheriff because they are tired of dealing with the petty nature of the Concent Decree and for being beefed for doing their job well.
I agree the LAPD is a great organization and I have many friends on the Department but your 8 long month Academy is a well known Low Stress Academy and focused mainly on learning domains. As you now well know, the streets are about high stress, which the Sheriff Academy is all over. In fact there will be a new reality program on Fox Reality coming out in May called "The Academy" The show documents every aspect of a class of Sheriff Academy recruits from Day-1 through graduation.....watch it and you be the judge of who's Academy is tougher...
Be safe my brothers & sisters in ALL Law Enforcement Agencies!
Posted by: Wyatt Earp | January 10, 2025 at 09:50 AM
Since nothing unites like a common enemy, and since I love all LA LEOs, may I suggest we table this debate and focus on the boxing match between LA LEOs and NYPD Friday night? Both agencies have pros and cons, and both have the finest LEOs in the world, men and women who were born to fulfill a marvelous destiny.
Posted by: Loves LA LEOs | January 10, 2025 at 10:45 AM
I love how the dept. lists how many blacks/latins they hired, but fails to mention how many whites they hired.
Is LAPD ashamed of it's newly hired white officers? What a slap in the face to these new recruits, but what an eye opener it should be for them.
Aren't whites the minority in LA City now? Do they qualify under affirmative action now?
YEAH RIGHT!
Posted by: MyCousin | January 10, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Kenneth,
Although I agree that overtime should be offerred to supplement basic A-cars, I strongly disagree that only patrol officers should be elligible. I last worked patrol 2 years ago and I can tell you I was working circles around the "new" kids. I was constantly fustrated with the work ethic of some officers. I also agree that productivity should be a deciding factor to work the overtime, but just because some of us are "inside" does not mean that we are no longer street cops. The younger officers could learn from our expierence, people skills and work ethic. The Department could only benefit from using any officer that is willing to work.
Posted by: Old Timer 20+ | January 10, 2025 at 11:45 AM
One lateral recruit rejoins the LAPD after an abbreviated academy . . . . Could it be Harry Bosch?
Posted by: Gabe | January 10, 2025 at 07:52 PM
jesus h christmas, what a clown. did villagaroisa really say that "it just came to him"
why doesn't he try to improve the department instead of bribing people to stay.
the city is willing to put out that kind of cash, yet can't hire a few more jailers or propery clerks.
shortsighted fools. fix what's broken and stop hiring sub standard cadets. get mdt's
that work, revamp your booking process, stop making the officers do clerical work, fight the ridiculous civil lawsuits and show the officers that you love them.
and maybe, just maybe, if you do this, i won't have to deal with all the lousy lapd attitudes when i'm just trying to book my body or get a report signed.
sincerely,
an outside agency
feliz ano nuevo and camina hacia mi voz
Posted by: john smith | January 11, 2025 at 07:50 AM
It used to be the best recruiters for the LAPD were the officers themselves. However, when I'm asked about joining the Dept I always discourage the person from joining our Dept. Why? It's not our alleged reputation for abuse, profiling, racism, or whatever cry anti-police activist are bellowing for the day. No it's our politicians and managers who give credence to these obviously biased "activist". It's the consent decree which has created an avalanche of extra paper work and unneeded scrutiny. It's the need to actually create a division called "audit division". It's the fact that we have more police officers working Personal Standards Bureau (Internal affairs) than we do have policing the street on any given night. It's the incessant nit picking and hypercriticism that has officers, supervisors and managers afraid of their own shadows. It's the elimination of the warrior mentality. It's the fact that I can't chase a man with gun because it's too dangerous. It's the fact that I have to jump out of the way of a moving vehicle whose driver is trying to kill me. It's the fact that an ex-deputy chief said, "You can't shoot a suspect with a gun until he points the gun at you and fires." It's because any time I get involved in a use of force, I have to complete a use of force report, and heaven help me if the suspect gets injured. It's our 1.28 system that makes other officers observations and statements irrelevant unless it contradicts the accused officers. It's the fact that I can't say anything in roll call or in a debriefing without being put in the penalty box by too sensitive supervisors. It's always "doing more with less". It's always not what we can do for the officers on the streets to make their job easier, but how much more can we have them do. It's completing an RFC for drinking in public that's just as long a felony arrest. It's making 3 copies of rap sheets because the record clerks are too busy. It's about waiting for 2 hours to book a body.
I could go on and on. You may ask, why do I stay? The reason I stay is the outstanding people I work with. I still have fun but everyday I get more beat down. If I had the choice again, I would go to a place where they supported me, with less scrutiny, less paper work, and more appreciation for doing police work. AND that is why I tell potential officers to look elsewhere, even the LASD.
Posted by: JB | January 11, 2025 at 09:13 AM
"The LAPD has a long standing institutionalized culture in which some police officers feel that they have the tacit approval of their leadership....to brutalize and even kill African American boys and men."
Pretty bogus and inflamatory stuff! These are not my thoughts, far from them! LAPD Cops are some of the best cops in the world and I am proud to call many of them close friends....this quote was from the then President of the LA Urban League, who is now the President of the LAPD Police Commission "John Mack"
Herein the problem lies. Our Mayor in his self serving, politically calculating wisdom decided to put a well known LAPD hater in charge of the Polce Commission. This baseless and crudely racist slander is apparently okay with Mr. "There are no illegals" Mayor, so P2-Dawg, though I totally understand your love for the LAPD, it's really hard for coppers in other agencies to see how working for the LAPD is a good thing, under the current conditions because when you aggressivly pursue criminals who deserve to be locked up, you can bet you will be ruled against when John Mack reviews your actions. Since Gates left, the Chief of Police has had his wings cut and is nothing more than a puppett of the Mayor, City Council and the Police Commission...
Keep your heads low and stay safe!
Posted by: Wyatt Earp | January 12, 2025 at 08:24 AM
Chief,
You can hire as many officers as you like and we will never have enough with all the avalanche of paperwork that is required of officers for each arrest.
Can the dept look into streamlining some of the unnecessary paperwork and process that is required with each arrest?
Can the dept change the way we book bodies? Like When after the officer gets an arrest, and transports to the station, let the officer hand them off to the jailor.. Keep the arrestee in an holding cell in the jail and let them take them through the booking process. This would cut down sooo much time on sitting around to book an arrestee.. Afterwards the officers can come in grab the face sheet and process the paperwork in a few minutes and they are done.
I am not sure if you have noticed, but we have tremendous amount of LAZY jailors who work slower than a snails pace. There is nothing more frustrating standing in line with an arrestee for 45 mins to an 1 hr watching how slowww the jailors move.
Dont get me wrong there are some jailors, that are awesome and are great in processing the bodies. But the rest are just occupying space and looks like if they work any faster they are afraid they might get a papercut or something.
Things like these should be looked into on how to make the system more streamlined. Nothing really has changed since the first time you said you will be looking into ways how to streamline the way officers do their jobs.
Posted by: Kevin | January 12, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Old Timer, 20+,
Sorry if i was not clear when i said limit it only to patrol. I meant limit the overtime only to patrol, not necessarily only to the people that are assigned to patrol. You are very correct, there are officers who work inside that are still motivated officers. So the divisions should hold spots open for them. Because just like i am sure you see plenty of lazy people working the building, there are lazy people working the streets. So if someone is not going to put forth the effort and be productive working overtime, than they should not be authorized to sign up.
Posted by: Kevin | January 12, 2025 at 10:58 AM
I tried to book a body at Pac jail the other day which took 3 hours. When I finally got in to book, I got a lecture for not filling out a "Rapid Booking" sheet. What has this little yellow piece of paper done thats "rapid", other than making 1 more piece of required paper work. LT, whats the deal? And whats the deal with the MDT's?
-P
Posted by: P | January 12, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Well put JB. Upper management needs to listen because the bells are ringing. Unfortunately, they all seem to suffer from political deafness!
Posted by: Lawgirl | January 12, 2025 at 12:08 PM
P- I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. Here is the update, I understand that the Department is aware of the shortcomings of the MDC ,but they are working to resolve the reception issues. I've also been told that new rovers are being purchased, but this time they will be issued to each officer as part of his/her permanent equipment. Of course we have other equipment coming, video cameras in the cars, new shotguns, etc. I've also heard that in the near future, officers maybe able to use their own shotguns as long as they meet Department requirements. I hope this somewhat addresses your concerns; however, I would stress to you to continue to use your tactical experience to handle situations. When I joined the Department we did not have MDT/MDC or rovers, we relied on our partners and tactics. As for the problems with the booking procedures I absolutely agree. I have my ideas and every chance I get I let management know. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Lt. De La Torre | January 12, 2025 at 01:54 PM
JB and Lawgirl your right on the mark!
Ed O'Shea
Posted by: Ed O'Shea | January 13, 2025 at 05:37 PM
I have applied at both LAPD and LASD. I'm in the process with both of them right now and I would like to say what I feel about both agencies just thus far into their respective hiring process.
As for paperwork with both, it would be smarter to make copies and write names of anyone you talk to as they're usually lost somewhere in translation and take time to find.
LAPD did my polygraph and what made me feel wierd about it is that I was listening to a detective speaking to some officer workers at the personnel building about how he/she felt the poly was phony and felt that only the honest candidates were removed by it. Upon hearing that at that point my anxiety began. I had been totally honest and the question that they claimed I eventually showed response to was the domestic abuse. I laughed out loud with sarcasm when the poly guy told me. I had never so much as pushed my wife in anger let alone hit her.
Nonetheless they said it doesnt disqualify me but simply id have to do it again. This time ill make sure to keep my ears closed so I don't hear other detectives making comments.
The officers I came across at LASD and the 2 parts of the process I've been thru were really nice. You could see the sincerity in their eyes. They were of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities which is what appealed to me the most.
LAPD seems to be either Majority Mexican or Military or Mexicans ex military lol. It's fine I understand that LA people speak alot of spanish so its needed. But when you bring about people from just anyone race and give them ranks in position then by nature they will look down on all those different.
I hear people from LAPD or even other police patrol depts say.. " Why would you want to waste 2 years in jails and detentions with LASD?" Hmm let me think.. I'm planning on making this my 30 to 35 year career.. so I would think that investing just 2 years of that time into the mindset of the type of people that will most likely cause me or others serious harm is not a bad investment at all. In fact I remember when I took the oral board class at LAPD one night and mentioned that its good to see detentions with LASD so u know what comes head.. the recruiters face turned 50 different colors man it was funny. Anyways
Both good departments and Im pretty sure my brother is getting into LAPD.. but after seeing the types of people in both depts.. I'm going to fall towards LASD. World Class dept indeed.
Posted by: Adam | March 16, 2025 at 10:02 PM
LT. De La Torre, are you the same guy who used to teach at the civil service academy?
Posted by: PBsec | April 19, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I'm considering joining the LAPD.
Joining the Police Force has interest me since I was 18, but I was always hesitant about making that long-term commitment. Being 25, I'm not getting younger and I have goals of where I want to be in life when I'm 30. The joining LAPD can help me achieve my goals. I'd like to the pros and cons of joining the Police Force. Basically what am I getting myself into.
All your advices and recommendations are apreciated.
Also any info on S.W.A.T. is apreciated.
Posted by: Dale | May 03, 2025 at 12:35 AM