LAPD scrambles to find enough officers to police the Olympics

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A request from Los Angeles police officials to boost staffing and purchase new vehicles in time for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been met with deep skepticism by City Council members who worry about committing funding amid uncertainty around the plan to secure the venues.During an hours-long budget hearing Tuesday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell repeated a warning he has issued in recent months, suggesting that public safety will suffer if the city doesn’t hire more officers to replace the hundreds expected to leave the department in the next two years.Despite recent recruitment gains, McDonnell said the council needs to fund the new hires now, so the department can staff up in time for the Olympics.Under the current security plan, the LAPD would supply about 2,400 officers, or just under a third of the total officers needed to police the Games.

The LAPD is requesting 520 new police recruits for the next fiscal year, which would grow the 8,600-member department by about 10 officers, with projected attrition at 510 officers.The department is also requesting nearly $100 million from the city to purchase more than 500 new vehicles, as well as equipment such as an upgraded radio network, new computers and more than 1,600 body cameras, for the Games.LAPD officials said that after the Games, the vehicles would be used to upgrade the department’s aging fleet.LAPD Cmdr.

Mario Mota told council members at the Tuesday hearing that hundreds of the new vehicles would police the eight Olympic venues within city boundaries.The additional patrol cars and other specialized vehicles would also allow police to continue normal operations elsewhere over the 66 days between the July 14 start of the Olympic Games and the end of the Paralympic Games, he said.

California LA28 Olympic leaders and the city of Los Angeles are still wrangling over terms so tax dollars won’t subsidize the Game...