Los Angeles’ new mayor, Karen Bass, is pushing to reform the defunded LAPD by making it easier to join and diversifying the department.
She plans to lower the qualifications for recruits and has hired a third party to study why some recruits fail in hopes of eliminating some qualifications.
Her goal is to remove obstacles, including “ethnic groups disproportionately left out of new officer training,” and create a more diverse department.
However, her plan has been criticized by LAPD union leaders as some aspiring officers may be extremely unfit for the job.
Bass also plans to focus on reducing the number of police-involved shootings and eliminating officers associated with right-wing domestic extremist organizations.
She intends to hire more homicide detectives amid staffing shortages and consider other policing options, including “alternative response and community policing.”
However, union leaders have expressed concern about her plan to lower the qualifications for new recruits, arguing that it is a dangerous precedent.
The moves by Bass come almost three years after the Los Angeles City Council voted to cut the LAPD’s budget by $150 million in 2020 amid the George Floyd riots and protests.
The budget cut affected overtime pay and reduced the number of employees to the lowest level in 12 years.
Maintaining a 10,000-officer staff had been a goal of Los Angeles officials after the department reached that number for the first time in 2013.
It is unclear if Bass will seek to increase police funding as she lowers the qualification requirements for recruits.
However, Saggau, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, has stated that they are “totally committed and completely supportive of civilianizing positions where police officers should be doing police work and civilians should be doing civilian work.”
»Karen Bass is pushing to reform defunded LAPD«
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