LAPD Reaches Milestone Number of Active-Duty Officers

Los Angeles:  Today, the Mayor of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief William J. Bratton held a news conference to announce the Department's milestone achievement of deploying 9,895 active-duty sworn officers on the force.  This accomplishment is a direct result of the coordinated efforts of the LAPD Recruitment and Employment Division and the City Personnel Department Public Safety Bureau.

"When I came to the Department in 2002, one of my primary concerns was the size of our police force at 9,034 officers," said Chief Bratton.  'Today, as I see our numbers increasing and closing in on my long-term goal of reaching 10,000 officers, I can assure you that achieving this milestone has been and will continue to be a key element in our ongoing success at reducing crime in the City of Los Angeles to historic lows."

When the Mayor took office in July 2005, sworn (active) members of the LAPD numbered 9,181, making the Department the smallest big-city police force in the nation. Consequently, the Mayor established a goal to increase the force by 1,000.  This ambitious five-year hiring plan focused on improvements in the recruiting process to ensure diversity of our police officers, candidate outreach and background standards and performance accountability.  In addition, the LAPD and the City's Personnel Department closely examined the selection process to ensure fairness, transparency and effectiveness.

Some specific marketing conditions and strategies included the following:
•A marketing budget cut that remains in effect, dropped available marketing funds from $2.5 million to $1 million beginning in fiscal year 2006/2007.  Consequently, marketing strategies were carefully assessed with emphasis on the most effective use of the reduced/limited ad funding.
•The LAPD and Personnel Department established a Women's Quarterly Roundtable to reach out to both veteran and new LAPD officers along with the Commission of the Status of Women in an effort to find ways of attracting more women to law enforcement careers.
•Quarterly recruitment job fairs and hiring seminars were established to focus on specific demographics such as females, African Americans, Latinos, Asian/Pacific Islanders and gays/lesbians.  These events featured question and answer sessions with LAPD officers from the targeted demographic groups, as well as command staff members speaking about life in the Department, career opportunities, test preparation assistance, the background check process and physical fitness requirements.  Candidates were also given the opportunity to take the LAPD entrance examination.

Comments

[Patrol Guy]

That sounds so wonderful on paper. But why do we stil have problems deploying more than 4-5 units on a shift????? And have trouble setting up a decent perimeter.

Where are all those EXTRA bodies we have? Hwo many do we have assigned to actual patrol versus inside jobs?

I think its probably safe to say atleast half are inside. I don't think we need 1 ofcr inside for everyone 1 ofcr on patrol.

When is the dept going to get serious about this issue and evaluate where are all our bodies hiding??? Condense the workload. Inside job people get paid veryyyy well to do the little work they actually do on a daily basis.

Also you have soo many sergents assigned to Internal Affairs.. The average guy from what i hear carries 2-3 case load. They have plenty of freeee time on there hands without debate.

Assign atleast half of them to patrol divisions to help with the BS complaints that overwhelm patrol divisions on a daily basis that tie up the field sergents for hours and weeks of wasteful investigations into absolutely obvious false allegations which amount to nothing. Plenty of lost hours and plenty of good sergeant pay going to waste.

Come on, someone take the leadership above and work on these issues.

[Woody]

Alot of quantity and zero quality. There would not be a need for the hiring push if you get those fake cops out of the building and on the streets. Make them earn that badge they wear. Drop off booking would help as well but we are talking to a wall. Remember...we're just dumb street cops.

[Sgt. Mike]

Uhhh, Patrol Guy, I think you better talk to some of your comrades. It is AMAZING to me the amount of officers that call in sick, on a regular basis. This leaves Patrol Watch Commanders scrambling to field units. I don't know what the deal is, but the tide has turned, and it's blatant. Oh, I can't have the day off that I asked for, no problem...I'm sick, and guess what, so is my partner. You say that people who work inside get paid very well for the "little" work that they do...I call b.s. There are officers/supervisors, working their butts off, even in admin positions. Heck, I thank god for them...it means I don't have to do it. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't some jobs that definitely should be civilianized, I'm just saying that us ground pounders don't need to throw stones...at least not until we move out of our glass house.

[Patrol Guy]

Sgt Mike,

With all do respect if sick time is being abused i do believe supervisors can do sick checks. A few checks for a few weeks will get the word out that stand by if you are calling in sick when you really are not.

The issue of not enough officers have been going on for years. Just when we get more officers we end up having a new bureau or unit etc and all the bodies get sucked out of patrol.. Look at all the new entities we have created over the last 4-5 years and see how many officers are assigned to them. i.e. audit div, crid, acrch angel so on...

[LAPD Vet]

The hardest working officer or employee for that matter within the City is the PATROL officer. Let's not forget where we came from and the burden placed on the street copper.

The Watch Commander may have to scramble to piece that DPS together but its still the street cop that has to answer that radio call no matter what. He may bang in sick because he can't get that special time away with his family due to lack of actual street cops available.

I'm sure plenty our overwhelmed by their work within the building yet they aren't donning the uniform and getting the ground pounding done. As they punch out at 1700 and blog how they can't wait to start their 3-day weekend; let's remember that its the young P2 running down a dark alley at 0200 on a Saturday night that allows them to have that plush schedule.

Listen to their concerns and take a look at your own, I'd bet the street copper has a better angle to gripe than anyone.

[Sgt. Mike]

I don't discount the fact that the Department has created a lot of new specialized divisions and entities. But, the divisions that you neamed audit, crid, and arch angel, were all created due to the consent decree and/or our changing times (terrorism). These are issues that have to be addressed. I've been a ground pounder for the past 20 years, but the fact remains, we all can't be. This Department can't do it all with patrol alone, we need administrative entities. Like I said before, some of them should be civilianized, that's a fact. In fact Audit Div, is made up mostly of civilians (professional auditors). Patrol Guy you speak about us not ever having enough officers, don't I know, but we always get the job done, because that's what we do. LAPD Vet, that young P2 might be running down that alley by himself, because someone called in sick and they weren't sick, they just wanted that special time away with their family...I once again call b.s. You don't leave your fellow officers hanging, because you didn't get the day off that you wanted...that is unsat. You're right that patrol officer does have to answer that radio call no matter what...with or without his/her comrades that leave them hanging. We are supposed to take care of each other. I'm all for taking care of home and family, but if you are a true vet, then you know the types of officers that I'm talking about. I don't just talk the talk, I walk it too, and I don't abide leaving your teammates in a pickle because you just didn't feel like coming to work. Let the admin people do what they do, and we will still fight the good fight and take care of each other. We will leave our gripes and whines in the rear.