Los Angeles’ budgetary woes are expected to result in jobs being lost, but which specific jobs those will be has yet to be decided.
If the Los Angeles City Council’s Budget Committee gets its way, police will slow down hiring new uniformed officers to preserve some civilian roles that are integral to solving crimes, the Los Angeles Times reports.
With reduced hiring, the Los Angeles Police Department will have about 8,400 officers next year.
This year, for comparison, the LAPD has more than 8,700 officers, and in 2020, that number was about 10,000, the Times reports.
“The slowdown in police hiring would leave the LAPD with its lowest level of sworn staffing since 1995,” the Times explains. “But it would help save the jobs of 133 specialized civilian employees whose work includes processing DNA rape kits, analyzing fingerprints and taking photos of crime scenes.”
The full City Council will consider the plan later this month.
The city isn’t the only local government facing budget issues; the county is also anticipating a multi-billion-dollar budgetary shortfall.
