LAPD: Changing Morale for a Safer City

In its June 25 editorial about compressed work schedules for Los Angeles police officers, The Times said: “It’s a matter of public safety.” That, indeed, is one of the reasons that the Police Protective League so strongly supports compressed work schedules. We believe compressed work schedules are an integral part of an overall program to increase public and officer safety. Safety factors were a big concern in a CWS study conducted and issued by the LAPD.

The LAPD study also found that CWS would actually increase the amount of police services provided for the same dollar expenditure. CWS would add the equivalent of an additional 141 officers to our underpoliced city at no extra cost. This, combined with the fact that the study found that CWS would save taxpayers between $24 million and $100 million a year indicates that CWS would actually increase public safety by expanding the Police Department above its currently authorized strength through schedule changes and additional funds.

A recent survey done by UCLA and USC found that 20% of LAPD officers said they were “burned out” and 57% said they would leave the department if they could. We are understaffed to the tune of nearly 1,000 officers, and this will not turn around any time soon; unless we fix some basic morale-related problems, many of our best and brightest will leave for the greener pastures of other police agencies. The editorial stated that “retention is important, but not so important that it should trump public safety concerns.” We believe that in order to effectively protect Los Angeles, we need to stop this slow bleed of attrition by offering programs such as CWS to attract and bolster the force.

Mitzi Grasso

President, Los Angeles

Police Protective League