Months of stress between Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and members of the Metropolis Council burst into public view Friday when the council rebuffed the mayor’s request to considerably improve police hiring.
The face-off between the mayor and a few council members has been brewing for the reason that council voted in Might as a part of town price range to scale back LAPD hiring to 240 officers this yr — half of the 480 officers requested by Bass — as a way to shut a $1-billion price range shortfall and forestall layoffs of different metropolis staff.
Then, when Bass signed the price range, she talked about she had reached an settlement with Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson to search out extra cash to revive police hiring. The duo mentioned they might discover the cash inside 90 days.
The 90 days got here and went. Then one other 90 got here and went. All of the whereas, the LAPD continued hiring.
As of this month, almost midway by means of the fiscal yr, the LAPD has already introduced on all 240 new hires accounted for within the price range. To proceed hiring officers, the Metropolis Council would wish to allocate more cash.
Towards that backdrop, Bass despatched a letter to the council Wednesday, calling on them to fund as much as 410 new hires over this fiscal yr, which ends in July. Some council members balked, saying they feared the hiring would trigger a unbroken deficit, for the reason that new cops will probably be on town payroll for many years to return.
Bass’ push was backed by Councilmember John Lee, who referred to as on his colleagues to fund the 410 hires by peeling $4.4 million away from different elements of town price range, together with the Human Assets Advantages Fund, the Police Well being and Welfare Fund and the Innovation Fund.
The price of the additional hires would bounce to $24 million subsequent yr, and it was not clear how town would fund their salaries in coming years.
Karen Bass at a farmers market in 2022.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Occasions)
“Right here we’re, contemplating an unvetted funding proposal none of us noticed till this morning,” mentioned Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who chairs the council’s Price range and Finance Committee.
Yaroslavsky has mentioned she would assist hiring the 410 new officers if funding is out there. She mentioned the Price range Committee has repeatedly reached out to the mayor and the council president to search out funding options however didn’t obtain a response till this week, proper earlier than the council goes on recess for the vacations.
Yaroslavsky launched her personal movement Friday to rent one extra class of 40 police recruits in January for $1.7 million — bringing the variety of police hires as much as 280 this fiscal yr. She additionally requested that the LAPD and town administrative officer return in January with methods to pay for extra police hiring that don’t come from one-time sources.
Her movement handed 9 to six, with Lee and Harris-Dawson amongst these voting towards it.
For the document:
1:40 p.m. Dec. 13, 2025A earlier model of this text mentioned that Metropolis Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky’s movement to rent 40 police recruits handed by 11 votes to 4. The movement handed 9 to six.
In an announcement, Bass referred to as the council’s vote “a disappointing and short-sighted determination” that may result in extra additional time prices and slower 911 responses.
“This determination dangers taking us backward. Public security is an important service that the Metropolis of Los Angeles can present to its residents, companies and guests,” she wrote. “At present, the Metropolis Council skirted that duty in favor of brinkmanship and forms.”
Harris-Dawson, who supported the mayor’s aim of 410 officers, mentioned that tensions over police hiring date again a half century. He cited a 2003 dispute between then-Mayor James Hahn and then-Council President Alex Padilla, with the council voting to delay police hiring as a result of metropolis’s monetary points.
“What we’re going by means of at the moment is in keeping with how town of L.A. runs,” he mentioned.
Bass had hoped to maintain the division from shrinking considerably this yr. The LAPD is anticipating dropping 552 officers to attrition. If no extra officers are employed past the 240 already introduced on, the division may fall to eight,386 officers, the bottom quantity since 1995.
“Stopping the hiring of recent cops could have drastic and lasting penalties for our metropolis,” Bass wrote in her letter to the Metropolis Council.
The mayor cited the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics as causes town must develop its police pressure.
“We can’t knowingly and willingly improve the calls for on our officers whereas lowering their workforce to the bottom ranges in additional than 20 years,” she mentioned.
Town’s police union, the Los Angeles Police Protecting League, supported Bass’ efforts to fund the 410 officers.
“Angelenos want this Council to grasp that neighborhoods are clamoring for extra police, not much less, and it’s time to finish the political posturing and put their cash the place their mouths are and develop the pressure,” the union mentioned in an announcement Friday.
Occasions employees writers David Zahniser and Sandra McDonald contributed to this report.
