Bass Wants to Cut LAPD Civilians

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Mayor Karen Bass is struggling to make cuts to balance the city budget.

First L.A. Mayor Karen Bass wanted to close three animal shelters (out of six), to help balance the $8 billion deficit the City is facing. Animal activists stepped up and Bass explained it was all a misunderstanding. Even though Bass proposed a $4.8-million cut to Animal Services there had also been set aside extra $5 million in a little-known section of the budget known as the “unappropriated balance.”

Phew, animal services is saved.

Now Bass needs to find more money in that “unappropriated balance” to keep the understaffed police department intact. With the World Cup coming next year and the Olympic Games in 2028, one might think that police and security would be imperative.

There were not enough police officers to monitor Pacific Palisades after the January 7 fire. Governor Gavin Newsom bailed Bass out and approved the National Guard and California Highway Patrol to take the place of LAPD in that area of Los Angeles.

LAPD had about 10,000 officers in 2019. In the 2023-24 budget the goal was to end with 9,500 officers, but at the end of that period there were 8,908 officers. By mid-2026, LAPD is projected to lose 150 officers, which would mark the lowest staffing in 30 years.

Bass knows some areas of L.A. will be upset if further police staffing was cut, so instead she proposes cutting the civilian police staff. Exactly what do they do?

• Crime Scene Photographers (EAA) – A unit already reduced to just 13 citywide would be further decimated, limiting the documentation of homicides, shootings, and violent crimes.
• Criminalists – Scientists who conduct DNA testing, firearms analysis, and chemical forensics under hazardous conditions. Their work is key to solving violent crimes and closing cases.
• Administrative Clerks, Analysts, and Booking Personnel (EAA) – Professionals responsible for running LAPD stations, managing evidence chains of custody, and maintaining legal compliance. ELIMINATING THESE POSITIONS WOULD FORCE OFFICERS OFF THE STREET TO BACKFILL ADMINISTRATE WORK.
• 911 System Technicians and Cybersecurity Specialists – Civilian experts who protect the city’s emergency systems from technical failure and cyber threats.
• Technical Surveillance Experts – Workers skilled in surveillance technology, audio/video enhancement, and lab-based digital forensics—critical for gang, vice, and organized crime investigations.
• Fleet Mechanics and Vehicle Maintenance Staff– Already short-staffed from previous cuts, further reductions would sideline patrol cars and degrade response capacity citywide.

Opposing those cuts are Councilmembers Traci Park (CD11), John Lee (CD 12) and Tim McOsker  (CD 15). Park said, “Public safety is more than just arrests – it’s a system. And without these civilian experts, the system begins to fall apart.”

Which councilmembers want fewer police? L.A. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez (CD1), who is a self-described police and prison abolitionist.

Most residents in Council District 11 would be happy to take officers that Eunisses doesn’t want. Maybe if her constituents in Glassell Park, Highland Park, Chinatown, Mount Washington, Echo Park, Elysian Park, Westlake, Pico Union, Koreatown, Angelino Heights, Lincoln Heights, and MacArthur Park, understand she’s the reason there’s no police, the next election might be different.

CD 11 residents would also be happy to take Ysabel Jurado’s (CD14) police. People might remember that she was heard saying in response to a question “What’s the rappers? F—the police, that’s how I see them.”

Ysabel Jurado (CD14)

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez has also been identified as a police abolitionist, “When we talk about the police and the role that they play in our city with 40% of the budget … it is squandered. It is misallocated, it is ineffective and it doesn’t work,” Soto-Martinez said, in a February 2023 L.A. Times story.

Residents are happy to take Hugo’s police, too.

When people reported fireworks at the Palisades Rec Center over the past two years, the response time could be up to 45 minutes, if at all. There weren’t enough police to help Palisades residents. But if Eunisses, Ysabel and Hugo don’t think police are necessary, Pacific Palisades will take them.

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