Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has made a deal with City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson to restore funding for police hiring cuts. This agreement comes after the city council approved a budget that reduced the number of police recruits for the upcoming fiscal year from 480 to 240.
On Friday, Bass signed the 2025-26 budget, which was altered significantly by the council to address a $1 billion shortfall. The budget year starts on July 1, and the mayor emphasized the need for additional police recruits. She announced that council leadership would identify the necessary funds to add another 240 recruits within 90 days.
To cover these recruits, an extra $13.3 million will be needed this year, with costs expected to rise to about $60 million in the following year when these officers would be fully operational. Bass’s spokesperson confirmed that the funds would be allocated within the stipulated 90-day timeframe.
Harris-Dawson acknowledged that while no one got everything they wanted in the budget negotiations, there is still work to be done to secure funding for the additional recruits. The council’s decision to cut police hiring was partly aimed at protecting jobs for civilian workers at the LAPD, who handle vital tasks like DNA analysis and fingerprinting.
Bass had originally proposed a budget that would have resulted in about 1,600 layoffs, including many civilian positions at the LAPD. After negotiations, the council managed to reduce the number of layoffs to around 700 by scaling back hiring plans for both the LAPD and the Los Angeles Fire Department.
During the budget talks, Bass expressed concern over the reduced police recruitment. She considered vetoing parts of the budget, which could have led to a contentious situation with the council. Ultimately, the council approved the budget with a 12-3 vote. Because only 10 votes are needed to override a veto, Bass would have needed additional support from council members to push back against the cuts.
The council’s budget allows for six academy classes with up to 40 recruits each over the next year, which is half of what Bass initially requested. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky expressed her commitment to working with the mayor to restore LAPD recruit classes, emphasizing the need for a fiscally responsible approach.
To increase police hiring and prevent the remaining layoffs, the council will likely need to negotiate with city labor unions for additional savings. The current budget aims to maintain 8,399 officers by June 30, 2026, but with the additional funding, that number could rise above 8,600. The LAPD’s staffing has decreased from about 10,000 officers in 2020 to 8,746 as of mid-May.
As Bass thanked the council for their collaboration, she highlighted the budget’s investments in emergency response, homeless services, street repairs, and libraries, aiming to make Los Angeles a safer city for everyone.