A key committee of the Los Angeles City Council narrowly approved a proposal on Monday for scaling back the number of Police Department employees whose jobs could be targeted for elimination amid a growing financial crisis.
The council’s Budget and Finance Committee took up a proposal from the city’s top financial analysts to begin preparations for the layoff of as many as 1,900 employees, the vast majority of them at the LAPD.
Councilman Paul Krekorian called for his colleagues to scale back that list by nearly two-thirds, and seek to find savings elsewhere — possibly from other city agencies. Krekorian, who heads the committee, recommended taking the number of sworn officers whose positions were targeted for elimination from 951 down to 355, and the number civilian positions in the Police Department from 728 down to 273, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Krekorian’s proposal passed on a 3 to 2 vote, with Councilmen Curren Price and Mike Bonin opposed.
Price argued that every city agency needed to take a 3% cut, saying the LAPD should not be provided a “different kind of standard” on balancing the budget.
